Demon Slayer
by higfig
Summary: He'd been raised by a demon, so that he could one day slay demons. Ironic, right? He'd never thought on it much, he thought it was normal, especially after meeting a kid who'd been raised by a dragon. However, not everything is as it seems, and maybe those who have left aren't as far away as some may think.
1. Chapter 1

Demon Slayer Chapter 1

* * *

"You still haven't told me who you are."

White hair falling just beyond his waist, spiky all the way through, hanging over the scroll he carried on his back. It shifted as the old man turned his neck to spare a moment to take a glance at him. He'd been with the man for nearly two weeks now, and the repetitive noise of his wooden sandals every time he took a step was really grating on his nerves. "Yes I have. How could you have forgotten my greatness already?"

Naruto returned a sour look at Jiraiya's devastated expression. His introduction had been great alright, posing and spewing out both his name and title, something about frogs. "That's not what I meant."

"Oh-ho ho!" Jiraiya's attention was diverted from the blond just as fast as it had originally came to him, a grin forming on his face. Naruto followed his line of sight, past the unnatural steam exhausting itself from the man's nose, right at the passing blonde woman. A sleeveless, dark blue shirt came over her honking breasts and covered her stomach, contrasted by the short cut white skirt and finished off with a pair of heels. "Now that's a looker!"

She reminded him of the girl Jiraiya had over in his hotel room a few nights ago.

Even from the fair distance between them, Naruto could still make out the underside of her cheek along with the fact that she wore pink.

A small, refreshing breeze blew past them as she rounded the corner.

They were frilled, too.

Jiraiya slammed his fist into his open palm. His lips had morphed into a determined frown. Before Naruto knew it, the man was gone, last seen pushing through the crowd and rushing around after the blonde woman.

It was the fourth time he'd done that.

"Tch." Naruto moved onward.

A guild. A mage's guild. That's where Jiraiya was supposedly taking him. He didn't really mind, it wasn't like he had anywhere else to go. Maybe he shouldn't trust the old man, maybe the old man would turn out to be an enemy, but it didn't matter. He wouldn't have a problem beating the geezer if he needed to. Naruto was confident in his ability to sense magic, and Jiraiya didn't have even a smidgen of it.

The whole situation was weird. He'd gone to sleep that night, thrown the dodgy blanket he had over himself, and the next morning he'd woken up with Jiraiya peering down at him. The one who'd raised him—an obnoxiously large beast with nine tails—was no where to be found. Even with the equally obnoxious and large amount of power he had, Naruto couldn't sense it at all. Without a word, he'd disappeared.

Naruto didn't really know how he was supposed to feel about it. He didn't feel sad. He couldn't. He'd tried to make himself cry over it when he was having trouble falling asleep, but it never came. Anger, frustration? Those came much easier. _How dare that bastard leave him alone,_ without even bothering to say goodbye on top of that.

He could have at least written a note.

Maybe not.

Someone ran into him—hard. He hadn't seen them, probably because of the mass of people, or maybe it was just because he wasn't paying attention. Either way, he was on his ass within the next moment. "Oy!"

"Aah?!" Spiky pink hair and a white scarf, that's what stood out about him the most. Were those supposed to be scales? "Who the hell are you?!"

"That's my line!" Naruto sneered as he picked himself up, ramming his forehead against the pink-haired little shit's the moment he was able. "Are you blind or stupid?!"

"What was that, Sunshine?!"

"You're deaf too!"

"I don't want to hear that from a midget!"

"We're the same height, idiot!"

"Oh yeah?" The blind and deaf boy reared his arm back, his fist spontaneously combusting into a brilliant flame. "Then what about this!" Naruto's jaw cracked open as the burning fist soared towards him, taking it all in his mouth before snapping it shut. "Uwa!"

He didn't hold on to it. The hand was ripped from his mouth not a moment later.

Naruto burped. "Oh man that was _good._ " He grinned at the shell shocked expression he received. "Got any more of that stuff?"

"Naruto." That voice was much more familiar. He didn't know whether he should be surprised that Jiraiya was already back or not. Was that blood? Undoubtedly his own. "Oh? You made a friend."

"No." The blond felt irritated at the assumption, pointing his index finger at the girly-haired boy. "There's no way I can be friends with someone who knocks people over then picks fights with them!"

"What was that?!"

"You wanna fight?!"

"Bring it on!"

Jiraiya sighed.

* * *

Naruto stared at the note with thinly veiled annoyance. _I left_ , it said bluntly, much to his chagrin, _there's only one guild in Magnolia. Ask around, you'll find it._

That was it? He crumpled up the paper and carelessly tossed it across the room, ignoring the smoke it emitted after the fact. Almost two weeks and the pervert couldn't even finish the job, dumping him in the town alone instead. Not even a little bit of money was left for him.

He could've at least told him the name of the stupid guild.

Naruto pondered over whether he should actually bother to find it, just to get on Jiraiya's nerves. "Geh!" He grabbed his blue backpack from beside his one-night bed and slung it over his back. There was nowhere else for him to go anyway.

He'd make sure to steal Jiraiya's money when he saw him next.

Now that he thought about money, he realized he didn't have any. Not a single Jewel. His head snapped over to the door to the room. There was no way he was able to pay for the night he'd spent there. Maybe Jiraiya had paid it for him.

Absolutely not—he was as cheap as he was perverted.

"Damn it."

Naruto pushed open the window. There was a ledge outside, angling downwards heavily. No one would be able to stand on that. He knew he was up on the highest floor, the fifth, but climbed up onto the windowsill regardless.

He had an idea.

Slipping out the window, he kept balance by propping his hands up on the windowsill behind him. Across the street from the inn was a shop, two stories high with a billboard on its roof. Out the front was a girl beckoning customers inside.

Naruto leaned forward and pushed off, barely standing as he slid down. His knees bent, legs extending near the edge and giving his body flight.

Somewhere up there he began to question the success rate of his idea.

His body punched a hole through the billboard, slamming into the hard roof and rolling until he collided with the stone parapet.

He rolled over onto his side. "Ugh." Grunting and groaning, bones cracking as he picked himself up.

The blond tilted his head up—the billboard had been set ablaze, its thin steel supports bent and losing under the pressure. It would collapse on him if he didn't move out of the way.

Naruto slapped his palm on top of the parapet and hauled himself over. He heard the resounding crash of the billboard as he landed on the street, wincing and trying to ignore the sharp pain that shot up his leg. Either the people populating the area hadn't noticed him leap from the roof, or they were too preoccupied with what he'd left behind. Either way, he was using the chance to escape taking responsibility.

"Hey!"

Was that for him? He didn't stop to take a look, weaving through the mildly populated street, taking the first right he was given the chance to, down an alley.

Naruto began to slow his pace as the exit got closer, throwing his hands behind his head and looking to the sky. Around the corner was freedom as far as he was concerned, now that his temporary caretaker had bailed.

It was noticeably less populated than yesterday—well, it _was_ still early in the day, Naruto wasn't even normally awake just yet. The blond had already spent the majority of the day before exploring Magnolia, so rather than continue that course of action he held up the first person that would listen and questioned them on the guild's whereabouts. Despite it apparently being the only guild in Magnolia, it wasn't until his third attempt that he managed to grab a hold of someone who knew what he was talking about. Even then it was just a general direction, and she couldn't tell him anything about the guild when he'd asked.

That or she didn't care to.

 _Straight down the main street, past Cardia Cathedral_ , she'd told him. He knew what she was talking about, he'd been to the cathedral the day before. Massive building, right in the middle of Magnolia. Couldn't miss it if you tried. It helped that everyone who he'd spoken to had told him that it was somewhere he had to visit, like it was some sort of tourist attraction for their town.

Right at the end of the main street was where he found the guild. Fairy Tail, written in bold block letters above the wide open double doors, its insignia displayed higher up on the building.

What a strange name.

Did fairies even have tails?

Name aside, the guild was producing a lot of noise—cheering, shouting, arguing, bashing and crashing. Anyone that walked by the guild could easily see the mess on the inside, broken tables, chairs, mugs and bottles strewn about all over the place, but not a single one of the occupants seemed to care. Rather, they completely ignored him as he made his way inside, continuing to joyfully punch each other in the face.

What kind of place had that old bastard told him to go?

"Yo!"

"Ah?" The man was small—so small, in fact, that it was hard to call him a man. If not for his mustache, balding head and aged face, he was practically a six year-old. He'd never met an adult who didn't tower over him, it was a strange feeling to have the roles reversed. The old man was wearing orange too, what a great guy. "You're tiny."

"Not one for first impressions huh."

Naruto frowned at the midget's quick quip. He bent down to his level. "So? Who are you supposed to be?"

"Makarov, the guild master of Fairy Tail."

"That was a bad joke."

"It wasn't a joke, boy!."

"Yeah right." Maybe he was going a bit far, the small old man's magic trumped his own by leagues. The difference was terrifying—were all the other guild masters like this as well? "There's no way someone that short can become a master."

"Hah!" Makarov bellowed. And just like that, Naruto felt like his efforts to get under the old man's skin had been effortlessly discarded. "Wandering into a guild you've never even seen before and insulting the master, unbelievable! You've got guts if anything, a shame I can't say the same for that brain of yours."

The blond twitched. "Ah!? You tryna pick a fight?"

"No, no." The guild master waved his hand in an effort to placate him. "But, when Jiraiya told me you were coming, I expected you to be a bit taller."

"You know that perverted frog?"

Makarov's right eyebrow quirked up. Did he find something funny? "Of course I do! He used to be a member of this very guild."

"Ooh?" Naruto let his eyes travel around the building, from the flying table introducing itself to an older man's face, over the awesome foursome who'd tangled themselves in a mess of their own limbs, to the two who were cheering everyone on with a pile of Jewels stacked in front of them. He deadpanned. "It's actually not very surprising that he came from here..."

"Well?" The blond flinched at the master snapping him out of his mutterings. "What are you going to do now?"

An unintelligible sound escaped his throat.

What was he supposed to do? He hadn't really thought about what he was going to do once he got to the guild, he'd only really moved toward it in the first place because Jiraiya had said that was where he was taking him—should he have told the man no? Maybe he could have looked for the monster that abandoned him instead, but it wasn't like he had any clue how to even start. There was also the fact that when the beast didn't want something to happen, it didn't.

Except for when Naruto accidentally destroyed their hideout last year.

"Uh-"

"You!"

It was moderately familiar.

Naruto's attention scrolled over to the entrance to the guild. Between him and it was a kid about his own age, black-haired with a stupid face.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you." He lost an article of clothing every time he took a step forward; his jacket, shirt, pants, socks, shoes, until he was stood directly in front of the blond in nothing but his boxers, pointing an accusing finger. "You're the one who took out the billboard earlier!"

"Ah?" He remembered. It had almost killed him. "I don't remember doing anything like that, though."

Dark blue eyes. His stupid face was in front of the blond now, he was definitely looking for a fight. "Liar!"

"Oh yeah?" Naruto grinned and moved in to challenge his opponent for the personal space. "How are you going to prove it?"

"I'll kick your ass!"

"Come on then!"

That was a nice breeze.

A common warmth returned to his hands as a mist began to emanate from where his challenger had slapped the bottom of his fist into his palm. Both parties made their move, but before they could get anywhere worthy of note, they had both been split apart and raised up in the air.

Naruto stared at the thing attached to the back of his shirt—an arm? Makarov's arm, extended unnaturally to hoist the two of them up a good couple of meters from the floor. "Uweh, that's so weird."

"You think so?" The master had released him, letting him land back on his own two feet. "Gray." Makarov started, almost chidingly. "Put your clothes back on."

"Eh?!"

"It's too early in the morning for kids to be fighting in here!" Even if he was only ten, Naruto was bigger than Makarov, but he didn't think he'd be able to make the same jump that the much older man did—from the floorboards right up onto the bar in one effort. "Gray! It's your job to introduce Naruto to everyone."

"Are you kidding me?"

"I'm counting on you!"

* * *

Cana and Gray were both a year older than he was, making him the youngest in the building.

It got on his nerves.

It didn't help that Gray was also a couple of inches taller.

"So what magic do you use Naruto?"

There was the question, finally. It was surprising to him that the three of them had been talking for as long as they had without bringing up magic. Naruto gave the brown-haired girl his attention, he wasn't going to miss out on an opportunity to brag. He'd always been told he should be proud of his magic. The back of his hand floated over the table they were seated at, palm opening and a small ember igniting itself into existence, swirling and expanding into a neat little sphere of white fire. "Demon slayer magic."

"Ooh?" Cana leaned over and grabbed a closer look. "Where did you learn that?"

"A demon taught me."

"A demon?"

"Yeah, a big one." He spread his arms out to display how big he was talking. "A _really_ big one. He had nine tails too."

"As if." Gray snorted. "In the first place, why would a demon teach someone how to kill them?"

Naruto insisted. "It's true!"

"About as true as you not destroying stuff in town."

"I'll hit you."

"If you can."

Okay.

The sphere of flame spread and engulfed his hand as he swung at the older boy. There was no way Gray could move to dodge it in time, they were seated right next to each other. Had it started to get cold?

Well, the potential burn victim didn't end up dodging it. Rather, he'd snatched the blond's wrist out of the air, his hand and the majority of his forearm getting caked in ice instantly upon contact.

Naruto heard a surprised guttural sound escape his throat, but he wasn't entirely sure that it had actually happened. Or he just didn't want to admit it.

"You're a demon slayer, right?" Gray's hand twitched around where it had gripped his wrist, a frown had come to settle on his stupid face. "Have you ever fought a demon before?"

"Ah-" No, he hadn't. Actually, he hadn't been in a fight before either. Before Jiraiya had found him, he'd normally just laze around until he couldn't stand the boredom any longer; then he'd start to carelessly throw his magic around and burn anything he could—the nine-tailed demon always refused to teach him how to use his magic, claiming that the blond had to teach himself, to create his own spells and techniques. He didn't think it was fair and had thrown plenty of tantrums in response, though with no success in the end. "No."

"Then how do you-"

"Ehh!?"

Another familiar voice, more annoying this time. He was all for recognizing vocal sounds today apparently. "Ah? You're-"

Natsu. That was his name, Naruto had learnt that yesterday. He hadn't changed clothes, his scarf, red jumper and lightly tanned shorts were still there, only dirtier. "What do you think you're doing here?!"

Makarov was stood beside the pink-haired boy, did he know what he had just done? Did he think it was funny? His face sure gave off that vibe.

Gray snapped before the blond had the chance. "Don't just walk in and interrupt people you stupid brat! I was just about to say something cool!"

Natsu sneered back at the ice wizard. "You can't say anything cool when you're half naked, pervert!"

The unknowing exhibitionist looked down at himself with shock, letting Naruto's wrist go in the process.

 _'Chance.'_

The ice began to crack and fall away, Naruto's arm once again ignited itself as his fist crashed into the underside of Gray's chin, the Fairy Tail mage was temporarily gifted with flight before slamming back down on the hard wood floor.

Naruto got up off the bench and moved over with a smug grin. "It doesn't matter if I've never fought a demon before." He said. "I can still kick your ass without a problem."

"Oh? Are they going to fight?"

"Give him what for, Naruto!"

"You better not lose to a newbie Gray!"

Gray rubbed his chin as he picked himself up, scowling at the blond for the surprise attack.

Naruto had readied himself for the ice mage to make his retaliation. Instead, he got a face-full of flaming fist, one that he couldn't open his mouth to eat in time. The blond felt his head snap back and his ass collide with the floor.

"A fight?" Excitement? That was definitely what was coming from Natsu's tone. "Count me in!"

Naruto pushed himself back up onto his feet, there was no way he could be taken out by fire. Jiraiya had put a stop to their argument yesterday, but he wasn't there to stop them this time. This also meant it was another chance for him to eat more of Natsu's delicious flames.

By the end of it, the three lay on the guild's floor, heaving for air. Around them was a mostly destroyed building, tables, chairs, and even the bar hadn't been exempt from their brawl. Ice and two different colours of flames were spread around the immediate area.

At least some of the destruction had already been done by earlier fights.

"Natsu joined the guild earlier today, you know." Makarov? Naruto didn't have the energy to open his eyes and confirm his thoughts. Hearing that Natsu had reached a decision before him did get on the blond's nerves though. "Have you made up your mind yet Naruto?"

He found it strange that he wasn't being chewed out by the old man for making a mess of his guild. People were supposed to get angry when their stuff was broken, weren't they?

"Yeah." How long had they been fighting? It was difficult to form words through his heavy breathing and coarse throat. "Sign me up, ojii-chan."

* * *

 **Chapter 1 end!  
**

 **This is an idea that I started to write over two years ago now, but I scrapped it because it was an almost exact copy of the manga with very minimal changes. Now though, I have a an actual story thought out, and I hope you will enjoy it!**


	2. Chapter 2

Demon Slayer Chapter 2

* * *

4 years.

It felt like it had gone by in a flash.

Everything that had happened during that time flashed through his eyes in a single moment, right as the lightning encased fist crashed into his face.

At least, that's what he'd claim when he picked himself back up.

And he did.

Naruto groaned. They were on sand, he shouldn't have bounced _that_ hard.

Natsu burst out laughing from where he was sat, far enough away so that he wouldn't get between them. "You're so lame!"

"You didn't do any better." The blond snapped back, huffing out a stream of white flame at the girly-haired dragon slayer. It got on Naruto's nerves, Natsu was just as immune to fire as he was. He'd been smug when he was eating the pinkette's attacks, but it had instantly dropped when the roles had been so easily switched.

Natsu wiped his mouth having devoured the last of it, burping back his own attack in retaliation.

The two of them had been bugging Laxus for fights for the past month, and the older teenager had finally caved under the constant, repetitive barrage every time he came back to the guild. Now that they'd both lost after only mere moments of their fights starting, they would take their frustration out on each other.

It would often backfire, only creating more annoyance and frustration.

The damage they could inflict on each other was almost non-existent.

Natsu was the first to let it out. "Quit eating all of it!"

"I haven't eaten today."

"That's not my fault!"

"But it is your problem."

Hours later, still brimming with magic as if it had never been used in the first place, they'd collapse from physical exhaustion, throwing low, half-hearted insults when they had mustered the energy. Laxus had made himself scarce long before, unwilling to be around the two any longer than he had to be.

"My name's Natsu." Naruto mocked in his best attempt at a girl's voice. "Please don't make me go on any dangerous missions Master, it'll ruin my pretty pink hair!"

"I'll burn you."

"Try it, idiot."

A warm aura rushed over the blond, and he let out a snort of amusement before chowing down on the free food. Naruto sighed in content, pushing the sweaty strands of hair out of his eyes as he picked himself up off the ground. "Come on." He said. "We're going on a job."

"Now?"

"Now."

"Why?"

"Are you going to get up?"

"If you answer."

Naruto's lips twisted into a grimace. "It's just been a while. Nearly nine months."

Natsu grinned. Was that what he wanted to hear? "Getting lonely without me?"

"Piss off."

There wasn't many present in the guild's hall. Being a Tuesday, it meant that most were still out on the jobs they had taken the day before. Even Gray was gone, probably with Cana tagging along. It was true that Fairy Tail was growing larger and more popular with every year that passed, but they still received more requests than they could handle which meant there was a nice chunk still left over.

"Hey."

Naruto ignored it, it wasn't meant for him. The owner of that voice only ever came for Natsu. Instead, he tore an interesting looking request off the board. Three hundred thousand Jewels to play bodyguard for a couple of people on their way to Crocus? It was almost a joke how much they were willing to pay for a simple job like that. He pinned it back up in its previous spot, he wanted something more exciting, and there was no way he was making the long, tedious and boring trip all the way to the capital city.

The blond snatched up the monster hunter one instead, two hundred and fifty thousand Jewels. That was much more up his alley.

"Oh? You picked that one huh? I'd been planning to."

"Too late, mine now."

He'd hoped that she would leave him alone, but of course that couldn't happen. Why would she give him that luxury?

Mirajane Strauss, thankfully a hard worker and was almost always out on a job, usually with her two siblings by her side. She'd shown up out of the blue three years ago and joined the guild. Take Over, that was her magic. She took over demons and used their power to fight. Naruto had jumped at the chance to fight her when he'd heard about it, it was a chance for him to pit his demon slaying magic against a real demon's power.

He had his ass handed to him, while she had only taken one hit—a good hit, mind you, she'd blasted through one side of the guild hall and out the other, a hot trail of flames leading back to him.

They hadn't fought since, but Mira never dropped the subject and always found time to rub his nose in it.

"Want me to tag along and hold your hand?"

"I'm not a little kid."

Mira leaned down so her face was level with his, strands of her long white hair falling in front of her eyes, a mocking smirk firmly planted on her lips. "Is that so?"

"It is."

"Then when you get back, why don't you prove it to me?"

"You won't get a good reputation by beating up kids."

"Lucky for me that you're not then, right?"

Naruto twisted his nose in annoyance. A week ago, Erza had taken a job that (according to the master) would take months for her to complete. Was that it? Was that why Mira turned to him, because the person she usually vented her frustrations out on was away?

It kind of pissed him off.

"Fine." Naruto agreed. "This time, I'll send you through the cathedral."

He watched her lips, slowly twitching into a grin. "Perfect."

Displaying the request he'd pulled of the board, Master gave him a lazy wave of recognition before he was on his way, snatching Natsu away from the talkative Lisanna on his way out.

* * *

"Guuuhh..."

"Shut up."

He'd forgotten—while Lisanna had been taking up a lot of Natsu's time, the main reason he'd stopped going on jobs with the dragon slayer was because he was a complete pain in the ass to travel with. It amazed the blond, they'd fought to a standstill countless times, yet the thing that managed to consistently and without fail beat Natsu was transportation; arguably the most useful thing in the world, even more so for wizards as their requests often demanded long distances to be traversed.

"Uooogh."

It was the same for this request, too. It would be dark by the time they reached their client if they had walked all the way to Clover, but they could reach that point in just a couple of hours by taking a train.

Natsu picked himself up, using the window as support.

Was he feeling better?

The pinkette took a quick glance outside. Paling further, he retched, collapsing back down on the padded seats with a pitiful groan.

Guess not.

They'd arrived at the Oshibana train station, their last stop before Clover. From the window, Naruto could see all the boarding passengers. It was the middle of the day, most who had jobs were already at work, which thankfully meant that they wouldn't have to share their cabin with any weirdos.

Naruto's eyes landed on Natsu, staring out the window longingly like he wanted nothing more than to be on the ground.

Scratch what he said before, there was already one in here.

"We're on the final stretch to Clover." Naruto said. "You can stop being such a baby."

Was that a smile forming?

Naruto couldn't tell, the next thing he'd seen was the ceiling of the train. He could hear glass shattering, men and women alike screaming like they were being attacked, accompanied by a screech like someone was running their nails down a chalkboard, only much louder.

He flinched and groaned, his body ached all over. How much had he been thrown around? Better yet, what had even happened?

Shattered bits of glass were seemingly everywhere, some shallowly embedded into his skin. Naruto plucked them out. He was lying down beside window that let them see outside—at least, it used to. It was broken and all that was on the other side was stone, the entire carriage had been flipped over onto its side.

"What the hell happened?"

Naruto didn't have an answer.

The screams from before hadn't disappeared, now with pained yells and crying joining in among the pool of noise.

The door to their cabin had unhinged itself, the glass windows that had been on it in bits around them. He could try and reach to climb up and out, but there wasn't really anywhere for him to go from there. Instead, the blond picked himself and jumped, snatching at the door frame. Once, twice, he only just managed on his third attempt, arms straining as he pulled all of his body weight up with him.

The first thing he noticed was probably the worst sight he'd seen in his life. Someone hadn't been as lucky as he and Natsu were. The woman wasn't even twitching, a large piece of glass protruding from the back of her head. That wasn't the worst of it, part of the rail that people could grab onto for support while the train was in motion had broken up and littered the back of her body, including one that had gone straight through her spine.

Whether it came out the other side or not, Naruto wasn't brave enough to find it. Quite the opposite, he had to turn away and cover his mouth to prevent himself from throwing up.

Breathing deeply, he turned his attention back to Natsu, putting his hand back down through their cabin. "Come on." He said. "We need to get out of here."

Aside from scratches and the small bits of glass that had punctured their skin, the two were mostly fine. The rest of the passengers weren't in such a good condition, yet they still pulled themselves together enough to get out of the overturned carriage. He looked around for anyone that could need their help, but it looked like the adults had already beaten him to it—anyone too injured to help themselves were being pulled out by the train station's staff.

"It stinks."

Naruto flicked his eyes away from a man's corpse, that was at least two. He couldn't smell it, but Natsu's nose was on a completely different level than his was.

They pushed past the wreckage, moving past another dead body before reaching back door that led to the other carriages—well, it was where the door used to be. He had to jump again, reaching in one just one try this time, pulling himself up so his arms rested on the door frame.

It hadn't just been their carriage, the entire train had been derailed and thrown into the station, taking out plenty of the stone pillars with it.

The whole carriage shook, as if Master had grabbed it and rattled it around for a few seconds. Naruto furrowed his brows, looking wherever he could to try and find what had done it.

It happened again, a loud rumble following.

"What's happening?"

"I don't know."

"Well you're the one up there."

The third time it came was much rougher and louder. Naruto lost his grip and fell straight on his ass. He would have verbally complained, but was shut up by the booming roar that reached his ears.

"Shit."

It roared again as they scrambled out of the carriage, a new round of screaming following, he could hear those that ended before they'd gotten all the air out of their lungs. Natsu was the first to take off towards the screaming, Naruto close behind. The dragon slayer ran past the end of the carriage, instantly going back over his footsteps and bumping into the blond.

Naruto would have snapped at him, but once again shut his mouth as a completely different train carriage blew by them, bounced once off the wide staircase before rolling to the other side of the station. "Oh."

Around the carriage they'd been in was a monster.

Duh.

There was a few mages surrounding it, slowly backing off as they fired their spells. It was large, ten feet tall if he had to guess. If it wasn't for the ghastly skin, malformed hands and feet with the misaligned face, Naruto would almost call it human. On top of its head was a short horn, probably sharp enough to pierce steel.

It proved him right almost as soon as the thought had crossed his mind, snorting and charging at one of the mages who was at least capable of moving out of the way, the monster's horn ripping through one of the many scattered train carriages.

"Natsu." Naruto scrambled to pull the request out of his pocket and shoved it in the pinkette's face, he thought it looked familiar. "Looks like he found us instead."

The dragon slayer grinned, slamming his fist into his open palm. "As if I needed more reason to beat the snot out of him."

The two charged headfirst at the monster, taking its attention from the other three mages when Natsu spontaneously combusted. It roared back in response, lashing out and backhanding the closest mage, sending the man's limp body into the air and punching a nice hole in the train station.

"Stay back!" One of the others yelled at them—black hair, black eyes, a remarkably forgettable face and exitiiiia now tattered suit. He probably wasn't even a guild wizard yet was fighting the beast anyway, did he have a death wish?

The monster's nostrils flared. The muscles in its legs visibly tensed as it prepared to charge, doing so with a grunt and a huff. The man in the suit fired off his gun once more, but the blast of magic harmlessly bounced off of it's disfigured face.

Being faster in a dead sprint, Natsu clashed with it first, leaping up and sinking his fist into its chest. The beast's momentum was overpowered by the dragon slayer's flames, losing it's footing and flying back and slamming into one of the many overturned train carriages.

"Kama no Gekiko!"

The flames roared from the blond's mouth, washing over Natsu and meeting the downed monster head on, exploding in a brilliant show of white hot fire.

Natsu rounded on the blond immediately. "You hit me!"

"You'll get over it."

"Don't give me that crap!"

That was a nice and new thing he'd learnt after joining Fairy Tail, his magic wouldn't inflict any harm on anyone he didn't want it to. It had come in handy more than he originally thought it would, he didn't need to be wary of any allies getting caught up in it.

Though he couldn't do too much damage like that to Natsu anyway.

The monster huffed and snorted, skin steaming, slamming its fists into the train carriage as if it was throwing a tantrum, denting the metal even further with each hit. It picked itself back up rather quickly, tearing one of the train's rail wheels off and hurling it like a frisbee in one swift move.

Uh oh.

Naruto burst forward and tackled the suit wearing man to the ground, hearing the wheel loudly whistle over his head. "You should get out of here." He said, hauling the man back to his feet and sliding him out of the way as another zipped by them. Natsu re-engaged the monster with a shout. "We can take care of that."

He looked like he was going to open his mouth and refuse, but changed his mind when the dragon slayer roared and exploded, a sizeable sphere of flame surrounding him and the monster. Quickly and without further trouble, the man got out of sight, the only other mage there diligently following.

 _'Now that that's taken care of...'_ The blond's attention came back to where Natsu was fighting their target. He was jsut in time to see it, too—it being the monster's oversized fist crashing into Natsu's chest. In the split-second, Naruto would swear that he heard the bones cracking and snapping under the force. The beast followed through with his swing and the dragon slayer flew back at mach speed, striahgt past Naruto, and punched a hole through the steel that the train carriages were made out of with his body. _'Shit.'_

The word repeated itself over and over again in his head. He'd heard of jobs going wrong plenty of times from the older mages in the guild, where wizards and anyone else involved were seriously injured, forever crippled, or even killed. No matter what request they took, there was always risks. Macao, Wakaba, Gildards and Master had pummelled that into all the heads of the younger mages ini the guild so they were all fully aware of what could happen. Despite that, it had never really crossed his mind that something would actually go that wrong.

He hoped that Natsu was okay.

He wasn't.

His friend's chest looked like it had caved in on itself, his breaths short and raspy, his eyes flickering around like he was still trying to understand what was happening. Naruto's hands shook as they hovered over Natsu's body, what was he supposed to do? He couldn't do anything, the only kind of magic he knew burnt stuff. "Natsu..." He croaked, voice weak and pitiful. He never should have let the dragon slayer fight it on his own, not even for a moment. They could have taken it down together, this situation wouldn't have arised if they had acted as an actual team.

The rumbling roar snapped his attention to the hole in the carriage.

It was already pretty large, large enough for him to climb through easily enough. It got larger, the monster ripped it open with its bare hands. Was it bigger than before?

Naruto swallowed. It was here to do to him what it had already done to Natsu.

He was scared.

It reared its giant arm back.

Naruto didn't really know what ran through his mind at that moment. Later, he'd probably call it stupid. He scrambled to his feet and launched himself at the beast with a snarl, coated in flames. Before it could swing, Naruto crashed his fist into its disfigured face with as much strength as he could muster. It was definitely bigger than before, stronger too, it was only sent sliding back a few paces back, one of the dark blisters on its forehead bursting.

The blond didn't stay still though, there was no way he could let the monster make another move against him, he really might die from it.

He thought he should probably come up with some sort of plan as he zipped under its legs, but there was no time to sit and think of what to do next. He span around, flames spilling from his body in excess, landed a blow to the back of its left knee. It roared out and swung the same leg to try and hit him, but the blond manouvered himself around it and made his way back to the monster's front.

It was still recovering from swinging its injured leg so hard and so suddenly behind it, Naruto used the time to jump at to the same level its face was at with the assistance of his flames. Its face was really disgusting now that he had a closer look; a darker tone that the rest of its skin, blisters that bubbled and boiled, black as night pupils, the whites of its eyes red and strained, it was made worse by the fact that its nose looked like someone had jabbed two holes in its head.

Naruto discarded the information, instead moving his body and swinging his led, his foot crashing into the side of the beast's head. Normally, it'd be where the temple was, but he had no idea if the monster even had something like that. It fell like a sack of potatoes, its entire body slamming into the stone ground with a thunderous clap.

There was no way Naruto would be satisfied with just that. He inhaled, a small string of flames escaping his closed lips, before leaning forward and popping his jaw open, flames wildly roaring from it at .nearly point-blank range, spreading out and going up into the in a torrent of hot flame.

When he'd ran out of steam, the monster's body reminded him of burnt fish, black and steaming. It smelt much worse, though.

 _Natsu._

Naruto scattered back over to the train carriage, hauling himself up and sliding over to Natsu's body. He was still breathing, if only barely. His eyes looked dead. "U-uh... j-just breathe."

The ground rumbled.

The panic from before had returned, he was shaking again. What did it matter that the monster had been taken out? He couldn't do anything to help the dragon slayer recover.

It rumbled again.

"Natsu?" His eyelids were beginning to finally close.

The rumble came again, much louder and more noticeable this time.

Naruto looked up. The steaming monster wasn't dead, its skin was slowly starting to come back. It was bigger again, easily over twenty foot now. Its arm reared back, only this time Naruto didn't have a burst of confidence come to him this time. Was there even any way he could beat it? He'd used as much power as he could in his attacks, but it had just gotten back up again, stronger than before and healing itself.

The giant fist hit him head on. He could feel his body bounce of off the stone and flip uncontrollably through the air-wait, hadn't he been inside the train carriage? There wasn't any stone floor in there. He caught a glimpse as his limp body soared through the air, the monster's giant fist retracting back through the hole in the side of the carriage it had blown through with the blond's body.

A cold, hard landing is what he'd been expecting—instead, it was much softer and warmer backed by a firm grip.

"It's okay." Someone said into his ear, his head thumped at the sound. The voice was familiar, one he'd heard numerous times over the years. Jiraiya? what was he doing there? He asked himself, was he in so much pain that he'd started to hallucinate? "I'll take care of it from here."

* * *

 **Chapter 2 done!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

Demon Slayer Chapter 3

* * *

Naruto woke up staring at the plain roof.

Pulling himself up, he took a look around, slowly breathing in and out. Beside the bed he was in was another, housing Natsu who'd spread himself out during his sleep, mouth ajar and a low, grumbling snore bumbling out of his throat.

He frowned, picking up the white pillow that had been behind his head and launched it at the dragon slayer's head.

"Buwah?"

Natsu shot upright, eyes wide and looking around frantically.

"Natsu."

The pinkette's eyes locked onto Naruto, some drool rolling down his chin. "W-what?"

"Where are we?"

Natsu took a more detailed look around the rather boring room. "How should I know?"

Naruto grunted and threw the sheets away before hopping off the bed. He was still in the same clothes he'd been wearing, though his beloved orange shirt was ripped and torn in obvious places.

Oh, right, he'd fought and almost died.

He lifted what was left of the shirt up and took a look at himself—not even a mark on him. It didn't seem possible, he remembered that he'd been barely able to breathe, it had felt like all of the bones in his body had been broken. And now he was perfectly fine, like nothing had ever happened.

Naruto turned his attention back to Natsu, he'd been about to die as well.

"You've got drool on your chin."

The dragon slayer scowled, wiping the fluid away with the back of his hand. "I'm getting out of here."

"You don't even know where we are."

Natsu pulled himself out of the bed, he didn't look any worse for wear either. "So? We still need to see the client."

Just as Natsu was finishing up his sentence, the door to the room had opened, a familiar face making itself known to them. "No you don't." Jiraiya's smile was half-assed and bitter, a tired expression adorning the rest of his usually carefree face. His geta clicked along the floor as he strolled into the room, a newspaper tucked under his arm. "The man who hired you, he was a friend of mine."

Natsu perked up. "Can you take us to him?"

"Not anymore." The old, white-haired man tossed the rolled up newspaper onto the bed Natsu had been sleeping in, the two boys coming to take a look as it was unfurled. The request Naruto had taken for them had been bundled in there but was pushed to the side as Jiraiya flicked through the pages until he found the article he was looking for, titled _Brutal Murders in Clover Town_ , a small mugshot of a middle-aged man adjacent to it. "He died two days ago, before you'd even taken the job."

Naruto opened and closed his mouth at the information before pushing the words out. "How?"

"The same way the two of you almost did today."

"Today?" Naruto frowned. "You healed us from injuries like that in a day?"

"I didn't do anything." Jiraiya insisted, turning his head back over towards the door he'd left open. "You can come in Wendy."

A girl—a small girl, much smaller than him and probably four or five years younger. Her long, dark blue hair reached down to her waist. She blinked her inquisitive brown eyes as she peered into the room before taking her first step in, fiddling with the hem of her blue and yellow wave-patterned dress. "H-hello."

Naruto gave the white-haired man a flat stare. "No way."

"It impressed me too." Jiraiya admitted. "She stopped the both of you from dying _and_ got you back into a functioning state in just under three hours." He pondered out loud for a bit. "Well, if you hadn't been pouring out so much magic into the air, maybe it would have ended differently."

"What do you mean?"

The toad sage—a title the old man had often and firmly reiterated whenever he'd said it wrong—shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "I've met numerous demon slayers like you in my years, but none of them were able to do anything like that. It was like your magic was trying to keep you alive."

Naruto swallowed the bitterness that arose in his throat, he didn't like hearing about other demon slayers, mostly because it always ended with him finding out they'd died early in life. His magic shared many similarities with Natsu's, but one of the ways they differed was that demon slayer magic hadn't been lost to the ages. There was a lot of documentation on the subject, something both Jiraiya and Makarov had tried to push him to read into. Because of that, many had been able to teach themselves and others how to use it, the only problem was that they would all wind up dead only years after beginning.

It got on his nerves a lot; he was confident that he wouldn't get consumed by his magic like many had, what bugged him most was the ones who'd been murdered. In the comfort of their own homes, out on jobs, even in crowded places, demon slayers had been killed all over the place without anyone showing up to point the blame at. It was like someone was hunting down and killing anyone who learnt how to use it.

Naruto felt like there was a giant target on his back.

Natsu's scrunched and focused expression brought him back to reality.

"There's something wrong with your face." The blond remarked.

"What?"

"You're concentrating." He moved his head out of the way of the flaming fist that came his way. "You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn door."

"I'll kick your ass."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Now, now." Jiraiya firmly planted one hand on each of their shoulders. "I'm not going to let you destroy this room, it'll cost me a fortune."

"All the more reason."

Natsu grinned and spontaneously combusted. "Yeah!"

"No." Jiraiya reaffirmed his point, Natsu's flames slowly dying down against the dragon slayer's will, his face filling with annoyance and embarrassment as he tried to ignite himself once more. Jiraiya removed his hands and added a smug comment. "Good boy."

Naruto snickered.

"Shut up!"

"Well." Naruto ignored his fellow guild member's shout. "What happened to the monster that attacked the train? Did you kill it?"

"Yes." Jiraiya's lips twitched in an awkward angle. Sighing, he bent down on his knee, his black eyes staring directly into Naruto's own. "Naruto, there's something I believe you should know. Makarov thinks otherwise, but he's not here right now."

Naruto frowned. "What is it?"

"The monster was after you." He began. "It's a demon, an artificial one. It was made specifically for fighting demon slayers, something it does very well."

"Fake demons? Is that a joke?"

"No." Jiraiya pursed his lips. "The man who made them died twenty years ago."

Naruto butted in. "Them?"

"Yes, them. Used to be thousands of them, now it looks like there's only a few left."

"How do you know that wasn't the last one?"

"Because I'm smarter than you."

"That's definitely a joke."

Natsu's head exploded in a torrent of flame as he forced himself into their conversation, exclaiming and easily dragging their attention towards him. "If there's more of them, then our job's not done yet!" He grinned and smashed his fist into his palm. "Now I can get revenge on that bastard."

"No you can't." Naruto responded flatly. "He's dead."

"I can't hear you~" Natsu slammed his hands over his ears in an exaggerated manner, marching toward the door. "I'm going show these fake demons who's stronger." The dragon slayer spun on his heel, daringly pointing his index finger at the blond. "And I'm going to kill more of them than some lame ass demon slayer."

Something switched at the back of Naruto's brain, his magic was being challenged down to its very purpose. He sneered back. "Not a chance in hell."

There was no way he could let Natsu flap his gums so easily.

"You're going to fight them?" Wendy sounded flabbergasted at the prospect, meekly speaking up for the first time since her introduction. "Y..." She shuffled on her feet as everyone's eyes in the room homed in on her position. "You almost died just against one..."

Natsu looked like his pride had taken a hit. "You don't need to rub it in."

"I-I'm sorry!"

Naruto shook his head and brought his eyes back to Jiraiya, while said toad sage was standing up once more. "Do you know where we could find any of them?"

"I do." Jiraiya answered firmly. "Are you sure you want to go after them, Naruto? You may not realize it, but you'll be stepping into a new world, a world that I don't know you can survive. If you go, then you need to understand that there won't be any returning."

"You make it sound like I'm disappearing into another dimension or something." Naruto snarked. "Besides, I won't abandon a job just because I got a few bruises."

"Your ribs were sticking out of your chest."

"Doesn't matter!" He snapped back immediately. "I'm going to burn every last one of them until there's nothing left. That was the request."

* * *

Wendy was uncomfortable.

The night train to Crocus was lonely and quiet, even the usually talkative Jiraiya wasn't making a noise, choosing to instead stare out the window into the dark night. Wendy shuffled on her seat on the other side of the booth, she didn't know why he was taking her to the capital. He'd appeared at her guild just two days before, and he'd somehow convinced Master Roubaul to let her go with him.

They'd traveled a bit. Yesterday, they'd visited the home of someone who was apparently one of Jiraiya's older friends. He'd been home, all over it. Despite the old man turning her away from the sight, the small glimpses she got still plagued her mind. They'd stayed in the town overnight, only for her to have to heal two older kids and keep them from dying. She didn't know how she'd been able to do it, in normal circumstances there was no way she'd have been able to pull it off, especially considering how bad of a condition they were in.

"Was that really okay?" She broke the silence with a frown, fidgeting when his eyes slid over to her. "They would have died, and if there's more..."

"It's fine." His response was sharp and dismissive, unlike the smooth and almost gentle tone he'd spoken before.

She frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Wendy." A sigh escaped his lips, eyes trailing back towards the window. What was he staring at that was so interesting? "If he does ends up dying, a lot of future problems will be solved anyway."

* * *

"That's it?"

"I guess."

It was an old shack, that's how Jiraiya described it. He definitely wasn't wrong. The thin sheet that acted as a roof had caved in, the front door was hanging off its hinges, all of the windows had been smashed, yet the most eye-catching thing about it was that it looked like it half of it was missing.

"Let's go." Naruto moved forward, the shoddy stone trail they'd been following coming to an end just a few steps before the shack. "Try not to burn anything."

"Tell yourself that."

The place had an eerie feeling to it, like it had been there for hundreds of years. The floorboards creaked with every step they took. An assortment of tools was scattered around, a sickle, a hammer or two, screwdrivers—both flat and star. A set of saws with varying sizes were held up on a board by rusty and bent nails, large and small knives lying on the floor beneath it.

Naruto foraged. Jiraiya hadn't given much to go on, just the direction to go and what he was looking for. They'd only gotten lost once, it honestly surprised him it hadn't taken longer.

"There's nothing here!" Naruto threw his hands up in the air in exaggeration. Was Jiraiya pulling a prank on him? Telling him to run into the woods at night to an old shack? He scowled, annoyed. Any minute now, that old bastard was going to pop out from somewhere in a stupid attempt to scare him.

He didn't.

Not even a peep.

Just the sound of the wind blowing in the trees.

Then, a crash. Out of the corner of his eye, through the glassless window, he saw a flash of fire briefly rise.

"Whoa."

"I thought I told you not to burn anything."

"I didn't, idiot. Look."

Naruto rolled his eyes, walking through the half of the shack that was missing and out around the back. Natsu was crouched over a hole. "How'd you find that?" Natsu huffed through his nose and turned his head away. "What?"

"I tripped over it."

"And I'm the idiot?" Naruto smirked and moved the dragon slayer over, taking a look inside. Not much to see, after a bit the hole curved down like a slide. Well, there was only one way to go. "You should trip over stuff more often."

He grabbed the edges of the hole and slid himself in, letting go when he thought he was in a good position. The ride down was still rough, rocks and roots scratching and hitting him as he went. It started to get thinner as he picked up some speed, coming close to his chest. Then he was out, feet unexpectedly slamming into a hard floor. The blond grunted, thankful he hadn't sprained his ankle.

It was dark, much darker than outside. He could barely see his own feet.

His hands exploded into a white flame. Swiping his hands, the flame extended from his hands and traveled along the floor, splitting its tracks and spanning across the entire space to provide light.

"Oof!" Natsu had landed behind him, hopefully on his face. But he didn't turn around to find out, he was far more interested in what was in front of him.

It was the demon who attacked him—no, it was different. Bigger, stronger. He could feel it, he'd felt the same when he was getting his ass handed to him. He couldn't tell what it was exactly, definitely not magic though. He was very familiar with that, not this.

He wanted it.

The demon had to be at least fifty feet tall, unmoving, laid out with its back to the wall. Was it alive? He questioned himself as he began to scale it, using its bulging muscles as leverage. Natsu shouted something at him, but he didn't care to listen.

Naruto reached its face faster than he thought he would.

Now that he was here, gathering his thoughts, he took notice of something. An urge. It sat at the back of his brain, putting him on edge. It was like an itch he couldn't scratch at.

The demon's eyes snapped open and Naruto stared straight back at its horizontal pupils. It didn't move, not even when his hands came to rest on its large, thick neck, his mouth opening and his lungs inhaling as much air as it could.

No, that wasn't quite right.

What was he doing? He didn't know, it was like his body was moving of its own volition.

How long did it last? The time ticked by agonizingly slowly, but Natsu hadn't gotten impatient enough to climb up there with him yet, so it couldn't have been too long.

Naruto blinked, his arm coming up to his mouth as his body convulsed, hacking coughs onto his bare skin. He felt like he was choking on something. At least it didn't last long.

The demon's eyes were closed once again, only it wasn't giving off the feeling anymore. It was gone, vanished into thin air.

Naruto, on the other hand, felt fantastic. He felt like he was on fire, like he could take on the whole world if he wanted to.

"Hey!"

"What?"

"Is it dead?"

Natsu's voice echoed throughout the lit up space.

"Yeah." He hadn't yelled, but his voice still bounced off the walls around them. "Yeah, it's dead."

"Then hurry up and get down, we didn't come here for that."

Naruto shook his head. "Right." During his descent, he noticed something strange. The wall beside the deceased, giant demon was different. It was smooth, not rough and jutting out at every chance it had. His feet hit the ground once more, his eyes scanning as much of the wall as they could. It was at least as tall as the demon was, maybe bigger. It was hard to see that far up, there wasn't enough light.

Natsu had caught up to him, standing at his side. "What was that about?"

"I don't know." He gestured toward the wall with his finger. "Don't you think that's weird?"

The dragon slayer shrugged. "Sure. I'll go punch it down."

"Something that big? No way you can do that."

"Watch this." Natsu marched up to the door with confidence, an almost cocky smile on his face. His right fist exploded into a brilliant flame as he wound back his arm, rocketing it forward when he was close enough. It slammed into the wall with an echoing boom, the flame dispersing against it.

He hadn't left a single mark.

"Pff."

"Shut up!"

"Here let me give it a try." Naruto was still riding his high. In all of their fights, there had never really been a clear winner among either of them, their strength was probably as even as it was possible to get. Despite that, he figured he could do it.

Raising his fist, he sent his arm soaring toward the wall.

He didn't even feel the collision.

The wall just gave way, exploding into thousands of sizeable chunks, cracks quickly spreading up the rest of it and causing it to crumble.

"Holy shit."

"Yeah." Naruto stared into the massive corridor that had been on the other side of the wall, rubble falling and bouncing further into it. Strung up on the walls were large and burning torches on opposite sides, mirrored further down to light the entire corridor.

"How the hell did you do that?" Natsu's eyes were hard to read. Was he envious? Amazed? Maybe both. "You didn't even use any magic."

"How should I know?"

"You're the one who did it!"

"I did, didn't I?" He felt the smirk come back to his face, much more smug and teasing this time. "And do you know what that means?"

"W-what?"

"I'm stronger than you are."

"No way!" Natsu was flabbergasted, ears steaming. It looked like his head was about to explode.

It did.

"Yes way."

He couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he trekked down the corridor. Natsu's fuming didn't help in deterring his blissful mood.

"I'll kill you!"

"You coming or not?"

* * *

 **Chapter 3 done!**


	4. Chapter 4

Demon Slayer Chapter 4

* * *

A cave.

That's what he was supposed to call it, right? He'd never been in one before, the demon who'd raised him had been way too big. The only sound echoing around the huge space around them was their footsteps and the burning of the equally gigantic torches. It was like the entire place was made for giants—well, he supposed it probably was, just judging from the thing scaled earlier.

"Did you hear that?"

"That's the third time you've asked that, Natsu."

"But," Natsu stopped, tilting his head and sniffing the air. "There's something here."

"Yeah." Naruto glanced back to give him an annoyed expression. "That's what we came here for."

"No, I mean _here._ "

He would have questioned the dragon slayer, but perished the thought when something slammed down in front of them—something big; big enough to shake the entire cave with its weight. He didn't get to dwell on its size for long, having to raise his arm in defence as its fist crashed down on top of him. The ground beneath them cracked and splintered, a crater forming as the blond held his ground against the demon's immense strength.

Flipping his arm, Naruto gripped its flesh and wrenched his wrist to the side, sending the monster soaring into the side of the cave. The wind around them blew uncontrollably from the large object moving so suddenly and quickly.

The itch at the back of his head had returned.

"Naruto?"

"Just stay there. I'll handle him."

"Handle me?" The demon was picking itself up, using the cave wall behind it as leverage. Naruto blinked as he moved towards it, he didn't know they could talk. They didn't have mouths. Its tone was rough, booming through the cave and bouncing off the walls. "Thousands just like you have tried over my hundred years of life, none have succeeded in even scratching my hardened skin. What makes you think you stand a chance?"

"I don't really know." Naruto couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he stared up at the twenty foot tall demon, huffing and glaring back down at him. "I did something before, took something for myself. Now it's like I'm invincible, it's a _really_ good feeling." He came to a stop not far from the giant monster. "I'm going to do the same thing to you too."

Without any further word, the demon rocketed its arm straight for Naruto, only for the blond to move out of the way just before it would have collided with his face. Immediately moving in to make use of the situation, the demon slayer mimicked the demon's attack, a colossal amount of white flames roaring out from his fist, screeching and crackling as it rushed over his enemy's large body.

The inferno dwindled down, the demon's giant, charred and deformed body toppling and uprooting some of the cold, hard ground as it collapsed with a resounding thud.

"So much for that skin of yours."

Naruto chuckled to himself. He'd always worked so hard to get stronger, he trained every single day, constantly searched for fights with those stronger than he was in order to improve. Even still, he'd felt like he was rapidly beginning to fall behind everyone else his age.

Not anymore.

He had no idea what was happening to him, but he was going to ride it out for as long as he could, he was going to take more and more for himself. Planting his hand on the just about deceased and horribly burnt demon, he began inhaling once more. The same feeling engulfed him again, filling him up, his magic brimming with energy.

The itch faded the more he consumed.

When he was done, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, burping proudly. Turning his head, he smirked at Natsu. "Where are the rest of them?"

* * *

Natsu had never felt anxious around Naruto.

Until now.

Only a little.

He wouldn't ever admit it aloud. Something about the blond was different; Naruto continuously stomped any and all of the demons that Natsu was able to track with his nose, every instance being quicker and more devastating than the last. It was shocking; he'd felt like he was just beginning to get stronger than the demon slayer, only for this to happen and for him to keep defeating monsters that Natsu couldn't even compare to, one after the other.

Their next encounter was with two of them.

Naruto rushed in front of them without saying a word, dodging their attacks and snatching their arms, flipping the monsters above his head and clapping their spines together with a booming crack.

The smile that stayed on the blond's face was disturbing.

"Where to next?"

"Uh..." Was he supposed to tell the truth? That there weren't any more left, that he'd already killed them all? Naruto was overly excited, and Natsu didn't know how he'd react. "There's none left."

"What do you mean?"

"You got them all." He answered. "All of them."

"Really?" He sounded disappointed. The smile had disappeared from his face, instead replaced with a confused frown. "But that was only, what? Eight? There has to be more down here."

"There isn't." _Only?_ Natsu hadn't even been able to fight one of them on equal footing when he'd had his chance at the train station, and some of the ones down here had been bigger, stronger and faster than what he'd had to deal with. His guild mate sighed as the dragon slayer balled his fists, blurting out what was on his mind without thinking about it first. "Fight me!"

Naruto blinked. "Right now?" A challenging smirk spread across his face, that was a look that Natsu was much more used to seeing. "Sure."

Natsu charged. He'd never thought much with his other fights with Naruto, they'd usually just run at each other and clash head on.

Not this time it seemed.

Naruto remained in his place, fist cocked back.

Before Natsu even managed to reach him, the blond threw his arm forward. Fire exploded from his enclosed hand in a wave, rapidly expanding and washing over the dragon slayer in only a mere moment. It was a strange feeling, it wasn't something he'd felt since before Igneel had left him.

Heat.

He'd fought many mages and monsters that used fire as a weapon, and it had only ever served to feed him. Even Naruto had never been able to do anything even remotely close to this before now.

Creaking his jaw open, he _inhaled_. Naruto's flames tasted different—brimming with magical power, easily filling and powering him up, but there was something else in there, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. It didn't belong there, whatever it was, that much he knew. It was a complete flip of who Naruto was, it made it hard and almost disgusting to swallow.

"Thanks for the meal." He slammed his fists together. "Now I'm all fired up!" Bringing his hands to his mouth, curling his fingers to act as a funnel, he breathed out all the fire he'd been building up. His roar was big, bigger than anything he'd ever released before and it raced towards the blond with much more speed than it usually had behind it.

Naruto burst through the torrent of white and bright orange flame, balling his fist and giving the dragon slayer a heavy right hook to his cheek. Natsu's head snapped to the side, his vision soon filled with the cave floor as it had a rough meeting with the rest of him.

Naruto crouched down, a faux apologetic expression on his face. "I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

"I hope you choke on your tongue."

Natsu wanted nothing more than to wipe off the stupid smirk that emerged on his face. "That's no way to talk to the guy who just beat you silly."

"You're exaggerating."

"I'm surprised you know what that means."

He ignored the jab at his knowledge, beginning to pick himself back up. "Rematch."

"Read my mind." Naruto sounded just as excited as Natsu felt. "Don't cry about it when you lose again."

* * *

He did lose again.

And again and again for the fights that followed.

Naruto was pleased with himself the entire trip back to Magnolia, poking fun at Natsu as he did his best to not bring his last meal back up. Due to the incident at Oshibana, they'd had to trek back to Kunugi before having to wait just over an hour for the train at two in the morning. It wasn't attacked this time, something that the blond was mostly glad for; he was still buzzing, he wanted to fight some more still. There was a handful of mages on the train, but none of them had stood out as very strong.

He wouldn't have to wait long, Mira had challenged him to a fight before he'd left, it didn't matter that it was early in the morning.

While Natsu had gone back to the shack he shared with Happy to sleep, Naruto marched onward to the guild, raring to go. There was no doubt in his mind that she'd be there, most likely asleep among a pile of other guild members.

He kicked the double doors down, his flames igniting and rising up around him. "Mira! I'm ready for that fight you promised!"

Surprise struck his face. Instead of the wrecked guild he was expecting, it looked like it had just been cleaned, the floor almost shone in the light. There was no heap of sleeping or unconscious mages, and definitely no Mira. No, rather than what he wanted, he was lucky enough to be greeted by two old men, one seated up on the bar with his legs dangling, the other staring at the blond with amusement.

Makarov and Jiraiya.

His flames died down, a disgruntled noise escaping the back of his throat.

"Expecting someone else?"

Maybe he should have tried to sense who was here first, instead of sprinting and letting his excitement get the best of him. "Where is everyone?"

Makarov hopped from the bar. "Gone home." It took his little legs many strides to reach Naruto. When he did, he looked up and offered a small, bitter smile. "They don't need to hear what we have to discuss."

"Discuss?" Naruto looked back and forth between the two much older men. "Discuss what?"

"Your future." This was the point that Jiraiya decided it was best for him to insert himself into the conversation. "I warned you before I left that you would be stepping into a new world—it's not literal, but I wasn't making a joke either." The two older men were almost always jovial, joking around and having fun, and he had seen their serious sides when the time called for it, too. Despite that, he'd never once seen them seem so grim and straight-faced before.

It made him feel awkward; out of place, like he didn't belong in the room, as if someone older and more responsible than he was should be in his shoes instead. "What do you mean?"

The sage continued upon the blond's prompt. "There's a very powerful guild that exists, a dark guild. They go by the name Tartaros."

"Yeah I've heard of them."

Well it was more of a question of who hadn't heard of them. Alongside Grimoire Heart and the more recent Oracion Seis, Tartaros was one of the most powerful and influential dark guilds, ruling over a large chunk of less powerful dark guilds. Sometimes, you'd hear news of one of the smaller guilds attacking another guild that worked under Grimoire Heart or Oracion Seis' (and vice versa), and people would fear a retaliation that would spark a large-scale war, turning them all into collateral damage.

"They're all demons."

"Huh?"

He did hear that right, didn't he? Jiraiya had said it so easily that the statement had almost flown completely over the blond's head.

"It's not common knowledge. In fact, only the Magic Council, Makarov, myself and now you are privy to that information."

Naruto frowned. "If it's so secret, why are you telling me?"

"Because, they'll be after you too now." Jiraiya's lips thinned, as if he didn't really want to continue with the conversation. Kneeling down, the tall man placed a hand on the blond's shoulder. "The situation is very complex, Naruto. There's a lot of things going on that you can't begin to understand yet."

"Yet? Why not" Naruto drooped his shoulder and shuffled Jiraiya's hand off of it. "And if not now, when?"

"When you're older." Naruto opened his mouth to interrupt, but was quickly beaten to the punch. "When you're stronger. When I believe that you can handle yourself, then I'll explain it to you."

It was all confusing for him. He'd been all set to beat Mira senseless with his new found power, and now he was being stared down by two uncannily very serious men. He wanted to complain, to shove them out of the way and instead look for the white-haired teenager, but something kept him still. What Jiraiya was saying was important, he just didn't know why or how. The way the man spoke, his stony expression, it kept the blond attentive. "And until then?"

Jiraiya's lips twitched. The flat look on his face disappeared, soon replaced with his much more familiar full-of-himself expression. "You'll be coming with me." He said, accenting his tone as he jerked his thumb towards himself, a wonky grin forming. "That's right. You'll be traveling with the Wise and Mighty Toad Sage, Jiraiya! It's an opportunity of a lifetime, millions of people dream about a chance like this every day!"

"Thrilling." The blond drawled sarcastically, shattering the sage's exaggerated efforts in a heartbeat. "Wait, travel?"

"Sounds great, don't you think?" The smirk on Jiraiya's face got on Naruto's nerves. He knew that that the blond wanted to travel, Naruto had told him several times before in hopes that he could tag along—the guild had provided him a lot of opportunities, but he often found himself returning to the same places most of the time. "You'll get to see a lot of new places, and I'll even teach you a thing or two."

It sounded too good to be true, but his heart jumped at the prospect. Jiraiya had already hooked the boy as soon as he'd mentioned travel. Over the years, Jiraiya had only visited a handful of times and never stayed for very long, so it did make Naruto question why he was suddenly so invested. He quickly discarded the thoughts, the man had laid out his reasoning already—Tartaros was going to be actively going after him now, and he wanted to be prepared for them.

Naruto beamed at the two of them. "When can we go?" The words spewed out of the blond's mouth faster than he had time to think. He blinked, wondering if anyone had actually understood the sounds he'd produced, should he repeat it?

"Now." Jiraiya gestured to the guild doors. "If you've got anything to pack, you better go grab it."

The blond grinned. He didn't have many things, and just barely got by in a dodgy apartment because it was cheap, he wasn't even sure he had a bag laying around anymore. Despite that, he busted out of the guild, excitement coursing through his system. It didn't sound like he would get so say goodbye to anyone, but that was fine, he'd be back one day, and he'd make sure to annoy Jiraiya enough so that they'd visit every now and then.

He didn't even know how long they were going to travel, he might be back quicker than he thought.

* * *

Jiraiya brought the doors of the guild together, slowly shutting them. He'd thought that he'd been moving past this, but here he was again, lying to a kid that didn't know any better. Had he not learnt anything from the past? It had never proved any positive results then, why did he think even for a second that it would now?

"Are you okay?"

"Fine."

He'd get over it. He always did. No matter how many times he'd had to make decisions for the supposed greater good, he got over it.

"I don't like it either." Makarov sighed, steadily strafing towards him. "But if small measures like these can help prevent that man from being able to roam free again, then we need to take these steps."

"Yeah, I know." Jiraiya stood up straight and composed himself. He knew exactly who Makarov was speaking about—the man represented all of Jiraiya's regrets, a constant reminder of his mistakes hanging over his head. The man was a warmonger, power-hungry down to his very core, and an extremely powerful wizard to top it off. Today, he was locked away inside Naruto, a child who resembled the man almost perfectly. It was a harsh irony for Jiraiya, and it stabbed at him every day.

The physical similarities between the two was another reason in swaying Jiraiya to lie to the blond. By keeping Naruto in the dark, they hoped to keep the man's influence over the blond to a minimum. Even while sealed away, Jiraiya didn't know what kinds of feats he was capable of.

"Don't get so down, boy." Jiraiya chuckled lightly, remarks like that always amused him. "You should be looking at this positively. It's almost like a second chance, no? A chance to fix past mistakes."

"I've already gone too far, made too many mistakes, I can't fix them."

"Perhaps not all of them." Makarov agreed. "But there are those you can fix. While you're still alive, you should do something about it."

"I know that." He'd promised himself long ago, that doing as much repairing and as much good as he can was what he'd strive to do for the rest of his life. Pulling his arms over his head, he stretched, his back cracking in response. "Well, I'll be going then. That brat has a lot to learn before I'll tell him anything."

"Take care of yourself."

"Don't worry about that."

* * *

 **Chapter 4 done!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Demon Slayer Chapter 5

* * *

Naruto stormed down the dirt path.

"I'll shave his head again."

He'd been banned from using his magic, and not for the first time. You see, he liked using his magic—he liked the explosions, he liked the heat, he liked the devastating power it packed. But his mentor saw fit to revoke his access to it when he misbehaved under the excuse of teaching him a lesson.

"What an asshole."

That was part of it at least. It had been three years since they'd begun traveling; during the first month, Jiraiya had told him to stop trying to improve his magic. He was much stronger than what he had been beforehand, but he hadn't made any further progress. On top of that, he hadn't been able to pull out nearly as much power as he had when he'd hunted a group of demons down with Natsu.

Jiraiya had explained to him that it was a trait of his magic, that he would gain a temporary and explosive boost in power whenever he swallowed a demon. "Some of the magic will be burned up," he'd said, "and some will remain, forever attaching itself to your own source."

Naruto often questioned how much the man actually knew and how much he was lying through his teeth to try and sound smart. He'd read stacks of books about past demon slayers and his magic, _none_ of which had ever mentioned any kind of magic absorption or power-ups like that. Hundreds of years ago, demon slayers were used as soldiers of the Magic Council, many raised and taught how to use the magic from a young age to battle the escalating demon problem at the time. They were efficient, a tight and well controlled unit that needed to work together to defeat their adversaries, none of them overly outshining the others in displays of power or expertise.

Naruto wasn't like that at all. He was flashy and loved showing off, didn't much like following orders either.

"He didn't even tell me why. Who does that?"

A quick, almost blinding flash erupted in the blond's face, followed by shocks coursing throughout him, causing his body to twitch and spasm in response, his neck jerking to the side and cracking roughly.

Naruto scrunched his face and swirled his tongue around his numb mouth distastefully. He hated having to go up against weak lighting magic, it never left much lasting damage but was by far the most irritating. He looked around through squinted eyes, his limbs still convulsing against his will every so often—oh, there he was. Behind the tree. As soon as the mage realized that Naruto had spotted him, he reeled back and began sprinting as fast as his legs would allow.

"Damn it, don't run."

Naruto caught up to him in moments, snagging the back of his head and running him head-first into the base of a different, much thicker tree. He dusted off his hands and huffed at the moaning and groaning mage. This was how he fought and took on jobs when Jiraiya sealed his magic. Along with the magic he'd absorbed, he'd taken the demons' physical ability, or at least a chunk of it. His hand-to-hand combat was one of the things Jiraiya wanted him to focus on rather than his magic.

The blond bent down and rolled the man onto his back. His limbs flailed limply and his mouth was wide open, drool seeping out. "That's disgusting." He dug into his pockets and pulled out a handful of small slips of paper, slapping them directly onto his incoherently mumbling assailant's face. There was faded kanji on them, drawn in an intricate fashion, and they became more and more pronounced the longer they were there.

After they were done filling up, he scrunched them all up in his hand and shoved them back into his pockets, lightly kicking the almost snoring mage and getting a small grunt in return.

He moved on.

His objective wasn't much further.

Naruto reminded himself why he was doing this. It wasn't for money. It wasn't for reputation. It wasn't even for a free meal.

It was for the girl.

The green-haired girl who'd promised him compensation with a sultry look on her face. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't had difficulty keeping himself from popping a boner, her cleavage had been pretty much the only thing he'd been looking at. Actually, scratch that. It wasn't difficult, it was impossible.

Thankfully he'd long learnt to tuck it away in his waistband.

* * *

Mirajane peered over Cana's shoulder.

"Anything?"

The brunette grunted and tossed her cards in frustration. "Naruto's on the other side of Fiore."

"And Mystogan?"

Cana shook her head. "Nowhere to be seen."

Her lips thinned at the information. It had already been nearly five months since she'd last seen Naruto, and she rarely saw Mystogan to begin with, but they were in desperate need of the both of them. A war with their rival guild Phantom Lord had sparked when Levi's team had been attacked and put on display, strapped down with iron and baring the aforementioned guild's mark. They'd immediately gone on the offensive in response, but it backfired on them and they were forced to retreat when Master Makarov was defeated.

Now they were licking their wounds. Those who were able tried to recoup their lost strength and prepared for the next battle, Phantom Lord would surely not take their attack lying down.

Reluctantly, she turned back to the bar. She was going to face the other blond that didn't often show his face anymore, only she didn't know what kind of response he'd have for her. He hadn't been on the best relationship with the guild master, and the rest of the guild by extension.

"Laxus."

"Ah! Mira!"

She wasn't a fan of his grin.

"We really need you here, it's an emergency. Master is in critical condition, Naruto is too far to get here in time, and we can't find Mystogan. You're the only one left."

"Pff, serves that old geezer right." Laxus scoffed into the lacrima. "It's none of my business, you should deal with it yourself."

Cana roared from behind the barmaid. "Laxus you bastard!"

"What Cana?" He snapped back. "He's the one who started this, why would I come and clean up his mess?"

"Our comrade is being targeted." Mira interjected, swinging the conversation back in the direction she wanted. "Her name's Lucy."

"Ah? Who?" Laxus' face scrunched. "Oh! Her. The new kid with the big tits. I tell you what." His grin returned in full force. "If she becomes my woman, I'll come and help you all out. Oh, tell that old bastard to give up his Master's position to me while you're at it."

She didn't need to look at her to know that Cana was seething.

Laxus opened his mouth to rant some more, but Mira swiftly moved forward and slammed her hand on top of the lacrima. His face disappeared instantly and the crystal dulled. She stayed the for a few moments, trying to keep her own cool. She wanted to smash the thing in her hands, preferably against Laxus' face.

But she couldn't do that.

It might have been a long shot, but she still needed to try and get Naruto here.

The lacrima lit back up when she removed her hand. Hopefully the blond had a lacrima on his person, or at least one near him. If not, then her hopes were going to die very quickly.

It dimmed for a moment before reigniting, repeating the process twice more. There was a small buzz as Naruto's face showed up.

"Hey."

"Naruto." Mira began quickly, a small relieved smile starting to light up her face. "Were' in maj-"

An unintelligible scream came from his end, roughly cutting her off.

Naruto's face flattened and became visibly annoyed. "Hold on a second." He disappeared from view, his voice projecting back to them not long after, _"Shut up! All I did was break your stupid sword, you can buy anoth-"_

He was cut off by another scream.

 _"That's it, here. Try and scream at me again I dare you—ah, there were go. Be a good boy for me and breathe through your nose, huh?"  
_

Mira stared at him when his face returned.

"What?"

She wanted to make a snarky remark, but resisted. She'd kept this attitude for years and he wasn't going to push her buttons so easily. "We started a war with Phantom Lord."

"Good conversation starter."

"The Master's down, Naruto. Take this seriously." When he didn't respond, she assumed he was going to listen. "We've got a lot of injured, Laxus refused to help out and Mystogan is as untraceable as ever, we really need you here."

"I'm not even close to Magnolia." His lips thinned and Mira could feel her hopes beginning to dwindle. "I probably won't be able to get back until late tomorrow."

As soon as the words had finished leaving his lips, a booming crash resounded and the guild shook so hard it felt like an earthquake was passing them by. Everyone in the guild had gone silent, looking around awkwardly for an answer.

It came a second time.

"It's coming from outside!" Alzack shouted, soon drowned out by the noise of the guild members shooting out of their spots and piling through the doors to get outside.

"Try and get here soon, Naruto."

* * *

Mira's face disappeared.

Shit.

He tossed the lacrima back at the unconscious criminal he'd borrowed it from.

They just had to go and start a serious fight like this while he was so far away, and in the middle of nowhere to top it off. There were no train lines out here, just a small underpopulated village and a lot of wildlife.

He sighed.

Looked like he was going to have to hold onto his virginity a little while longer.

"I was so close too..."

He set himself in a full sprint for the village, he'd put the missed opportunity behind him for now.

Hopefully Jiraiya would have a solution to the distance problem. The man had traveled a lot in his life, he never shut up about all the places he'd been, surely he'd have some sort of way to get back to Magnolia before the fighting was over.

Maybe.

Naruto didn't get his hopes up too high. While his teacher was knowledgeable, he'd proven himself to be completely useless in many situations before.

Like when he'd blown the rest of his Jewels on alcohol and a stripper for the night.

Or when he'd slept through a pack of wolves attacking their camp. He'd almost had his throat torn out that night.

And what about the time he was seduced by a pretty thief and had his wallet stolen, leaving Naruto to pay for their meals and accommodation?

Anyway.

Jiraiya was where he always was when there wasn't a brothel around—the bar. He was chatting to the barmaid, he'd obviously had his fair share because she wasn't very attractive, definitely not the type the old man went after. "Naruto!" He called before throwing his head back and downing the last of what he had. "Back already, huh? I was hoping you'd be gone for longer."

His mentor liked speaking his mind. Even more so when he'd been drinking.

"I need you to get me to Magnolia." He blurted, turning up his nose at the strong stench of alcohol. "I wasn't even gone for two hours, how many have you had?"

Jiraiya tilted his head toward the barmaid, squinting. "Not enough."

Naruto saw the slap coming from a mile away. He shrugged it off when she stomped away and repeated himself.

"What for?" Jiraiya's elbows rested on the rounded table, his finger swirling the rim of his empty glass. "You better start running if it's important."

"Are you kidding? I can't run all that way."

"Lazy teenager." He grumbled. "What for anyway?"

"Fairy Tail's getting attacked."

"Aah? Who'd be stupid enough to attack the top guild in the country?"

Naruto blinked at what his mentor had called his guild. They'd been steadily rising through the ranks over the years, but their most significant leap in notoriety had been in the past few. Years that he hadn't even been doing any jobs for them. It had been so significant, in fact, that there was really only one other guild in the country that could rival them.

"Phantom Lord."

It wasn't a good feeling that settled in his stomach.

"Oh." Jiraiya's face turned bland. "I had a feeling that stupid kid would end up causing trouble..."

"Hey." Naruto had started getting impatient. "Can you get me there or not, you useless bastard? And take this stupid seal off."

"Alright, alright. Come here."

"Huh?"

"Come. Here." He gestured with his hand. "Let's see if I can remember how this works."

Naruto cautiously approached him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The older man's palm hovered in front of the demon slayer's face. "Just don't blame me if you wind up in the hospital for the next month."

That really didn't bode well with him.

Shit.

"Do it."

* * *

"Mira!"

She'd been captured by the guild, literally. The guild members weren't keeping her pinned—oh no, that was too simple for Phantom. They'd turned their guild building into a giant, walking stone fortress with a giant attached to its front; thankfully that part had been dealt with by Natsu already. Mira was trapped between the giant's few fingers, suspended hundreds of meters above sea level.

She desperately wanted to save her friend, somehow. But getting distracted at the moment, even for a second, would leave her with her magic getting sapped by Jose's shades. It was frustrating just thinking about it, one man who wasn't even in view was keeping so many members of Fairy Tail under wraps.

As if to make it worse, the giant was slowly crafting an equally large magic circle in front of it. Abyss Break. Loke had theorized that it would destroy everything in its path up to the cathedral.

She didn't doubt him for a second.

Her card exploded in a spray of lightning magic, dispersing several of the shades at once.

They were replaced with more almost immediately.

"Cana!" A sudden heat exploded into existence behind her, thwarted moments later. She turned her head in time to catch a glimpse of a shade disappearing along with traces of Macao's purple flames. "Stay focused, these things are everywhere!"

"Right. Thanks."

They needed someone, anyone. Mystogan, Master, she'd even settle for that hardheaded asshole Laxus if he were to change his mind. Naruto was on his way, but she didn't have any faith that he'd make it in time. He just _had_ to choose now of all times to visit a desolate and disconnected part of the country.

She paused for a moment, catching her breath, sucking in as much oxygen as her lungs could handle. It didn't last long, she was forced back into the battle by Jose's shades within moments.

She didn't know how much longer she or anyone else out here would last.

When she chanced a glance back towards Mira, some relief began to move into her system. A transformed and beastly Elfman had forced the giant's fingers apart, keeping them from crushing his sister as he held the barmaid in his large arms.

"Alright!" She whooped, feeling a new vigor fuel her as she tried to boost the morale of her comrades. "Mira's been saved, let's deal with the rest of these things so we can hurry up and join them up there!"

A resounding roar of support boomed back to her in response.

* * *

Natsu perked up, a grin beginning to form on his face as the idea suddenly came to his head.

"I've got a great idea Happy."

"What?"

"We can go beat up Jose right now." They were running through the halls of Phantom Lord's walking guild—or rather, Happy was flying and the guild was only standing. They'd already beaten one of their Elemental Four, Toto-whoever, and destroyed the giant lacrima powering the Jupiter cannon which had taken Erza out of commission. "The battle's over when he falls, right?"

The dragon slayer was confident and hyped to fight the guild master as soon as he could.

"What are you saying?!" Happy didn't share his sentiment. "Jose is just as powerful as our master, there's no way you could beat him Natsu!"

"But the old guy's not here, so who else is gonna do it?"

His partner did a double-take, sudden shock overcoming him. "You idiot! Why'd you go and remind me about that?" He drooped and continued with a disheartened tone. "Master and Erza are both out, so Jose is going to win in the end..."

Natsu rest his palm atop the airborne cat's head. "But I'm here, aren't I?" Happy stared back at him for a few moments. "Right?"

"Aye!"

The hall came to an end at the beginning of a room, a remarkably large room. The first step Natsu took inside triggered a gust of wind, growing stronger and stronger until a small twister manifested in the middle of the room.

"How said." It murmured. "When the wings of flames rot and fall away, all that shall remain is a dragon's corpse."

"Ah?"

The wind slowed its pace and from the small twister, a man appeared—tall, burly, and cloaked in enough clothes to survive a winter. "I am known as Aria, the peak of the Element Four." An aura of superiority surrounded him, but Natsu was more focused on the fact that he had to fight a blind man. "I have come to slay the dragon."

* * *

Her eyes slowly creaked open.

The first thing she noticed was the few strands of her scarlet hair in her vision. She quickly swiped them away.

Rolling, Erza felt her body fall for a moment before colliding face-first with the hardwood floor.

She grunted.

Groggily, she began to pick herself up. Her skull thumped, the sun was too bright and she was worried that she might find herself throwing up last night's dinner. That Jupiter cannon sure packed a punch, even with her strongest defense she'd only barely managed to hold it off.

Regaining her bearings, Erza let her magic envelop her, the armor covering her body switching out with a darker set— _Kureha no Yoroi_. Just standing was taxing on her body, but she forced it to moved forward. She took flight upon exiting the guild, hearing familiar voices shout her name as she flew by. Erza ignored them for the most part, only one objective on her mind.

She was afraid that if she tried to do more than one thing at a time, her head would split open.

Phantom's moving guild had changed its appearance slightly since she'd last seen it; a large magic circle was also now being created in front of it. She didn't have time to figure out what it was, but it clearly spelled danger for them. Atop the giant construct was a set of windows, leading her to assume this is where one of the walls had moved.

Erza smashed one of them and dropped in, floating down to the floor and letting her armor disappear as her feet landed safely. She could run from here.

No one was in sight as she ran through the guild's many halls, the only prevalent sounds being those of battle.

She tracked down the source of the nearest confrontation. The closer Erza got, the more she noticed the fierce warmth. There was only one wizard she could pair with that feeling with, Natsu. And indeed, when she'd turned the last corner, sprinted past the last double-doors, she found the dragon slayer; beaten and bloody, barely standing in the face of his opponent.

She wasted no time in getting closer as the two continued; Aria dissipating into thin air in response to the roaring breath of flame, only to reform behind Natsu a moment later.

" _Airspace: Metsu._ " Were the words he uttered, his open palms angled towards the younger Fail Tail mage. "Your magic shall be reduced to nothingness."

Erza arrived just as Natsu's screaming began, leaping up and smashing her heel into the large man's nose. He soared back from the force yet refused to fall, the air itself seemingly righting his body.

Happy shouted her name, but she paid him no heed. Taking her eyes off Aria now could result in disaster.

"O-oi... are you sure you should be moving with tho-"

Natsu had started speaking, his breathing hard and haggard, but immediately ceased as soon as Erza interrupted him. "This guy did the same thing to Master."

"Oh~ how very sad!" Aria wailed dramatically. It was a nice act, he almost seemed strangely sincere about it, but the satire still slipped through his voice. "For the heads of the Salamander _and_ the Titania to be presented to me at the same time."

Standing in front of the man now, she could feel her previous anger at the Master's defeat begin to rise. She made sure to keep it in check.

Aria chuckled. "Well, if I'm going to be up against the mighty Erza..." His large hands reached up to the bandages wrapped around his eyes, fingers hooking into the top and methodically pulling them down. "Even I will have to take this fight seriously."

Indeed, he was undoubtedly doing so. As soon as his eyes had opened, revealing the strange design within them, she could _feel_ the magical energy start rolling off of him in waves. She'd heard tales of his eyes retaining his immense power, but this was the first time she'd borne witness to it.

He moved his arms and all the air around them seemed to obey his command, blowing her hair and skirt around frantically. "I have activated the airspace of death." He proclaimed with apparent joy. "The airspace that consumes all life."

Aria was gathering as much of the air around him as he could, to the point where it felt like the oxygen was being ripped straight from her lungs. "Magic that consumes life?" She grunted through it, inhaling and shouting in defiance of his magic: "WHY DO YOU FIND IT SO EASY TO STEAL PEOPLE'S LIVES AWAY, YOU BASTARD?!"

A straight sword shone into existence, grasped firmly in her palm as his first set of attacks came in rapid succession.

She was wounded, she had no idea the extent of his magical ability—she didn't hesitate in progressing for even a moment, swinging her blade as the first shot of compressed air boomed loudly towards her. It sure was dense for air, it felt like she was clashing against iron. Still, she managed to slice through, but not without consequence as pain shot up her arm and Erza found herself having to use both hands for the ones that followed soon after.

"No way, she's slicing up the airspace?!"

Erza continued moving through the barrage, her armor flashing as it was replaced with another when it had finished. She didn't miss a single step, didn't pause when Aria opened his mouth to speak, and instead blew past him with a swift strike; her own horde of attacks coming to rain down on the Phantom Lord mage in the form of an assortment of different weapons, from great swords, spears, halberds to curved blades, short swords and daggers.

She allowed the metallic wings built into the back of her armor to slowly glide her back down to the floor, the sound of the giant man's body slamming down into the same hardness the moment her feet had touched back down. Blood poured from his wounds, but he would not die from them, she and Fairy Tail alike weren't going to be dropping down to Phantom Lord's level.

Erza sneered. "Master could never be defeated by the likes of you."

* * *

Naruto stared blankly.

Millions of different fluorescent colors flashed in his vision.

It had been an exciting experience at first, seeing so many colors at once in such a wonderful display.

That feeling had wrong off a while ago. What felt like days, actually.

Even his fear of having a seizure didn't break the bored and apathetic expression that had set on his face.

Whatever Jiraiya had done to him, he was going to make sure to pay him back tenfold.

Then it struck him for the first time—what if he really was just spasming and foaming at the mouth? What if this was just all in his head, and his teacher was busy stuffing his mouth with leather to keep him from biting his tongue off?

Naruto shivered. He hoped not, that would mean he'd have to deal with this blindingly boring fireworks show until someone managed to get him to stop.

If someone managed to get him to stop.

Also Fairy Tail was in trouble.

Scaring himself was all he was able to find in order to grant himself some amusement. It was a double-edged blade, it helped pass the time but he was sure his own self-deprecating thoughts would leave eternal mental scarring.

Or not.

He was thinking too much, something he didn't do often and now he understood why he preferred not to. Every thought had a contradictory one to match it, it was an endless cycle that he saw no end to.

He shook his head, much like he imagined his own body doing if it really was just erratically convulsing. "Just let this end..."

* * *

The guild began to rumble, the room tilting and the floor shifting out from under her feet.

Erza didn't stop herself from falling over. The adrenaline had staved off her nausea, but now it was returning in full force. She'd expected to be met with the harsh ground, but instead landed in a pair of arms.

Natsu shouted her name out in worry.

She wanted nothing more than to tell him to shut up, to stop aggravating her headache further, but the effort required to open her mouth and talk seemed like too much work.

There was a faint crackle. "All you Fairy Tail members out there." Jose's loud, maleficent voice addressed throughout the area. "We have succeeded in capturing Lucy."

Happy murmured what they were all thinking. "No way."

"Our first objective has been achieved." Even with just the few statements that had been made, Erza already felt like she wanted to beat him into submission. Lucy's screams echoing out during his momentary pause only fueled her displeasure. "I'm sure you all heard that." The smug undertone wasn't helping any either. "We have but one objective remaining... _to slaughter the lot of you._ "

Erza didn't even have to take a glance at Natsu to know that he was pissed off at Jose. She called his name and put as much effort into a motivational speech as possible, they needed him steadfast and determined if they were going to come out of this victorious. "Now go, Natsu!"

Her performance hadn't been for naught, as the dragon slayer lay her down on the floor and got to his feet, a torrent of flame reigniting around his person. He was off with a bellow, Happy trailing not far behind him.

She didn't move for a while. The cold floor was hardly comfortable, but it was a better alternative than forcing her body to move any more. Eventually she did move, propping herself up against a particularly large part of the ceiling that had caved in during the scuffle. She breathed heavily, the adrenaline having already quickly diminished from her system.

"Erza!" She didn't move in response to her name being called. She didn't have to, she knew unequivocally who's voice it was. Mira's worried expression poked itself into her vision. "What are you doing here?"

There was a brief moment of silence, broken by Elfman. "Don't tell me you actually fought someone in that state."

Out of the corner of her eye, Erza saw Gray nudging the large and unconscious Phantom Lord mage with his boot. "So you're the one who defeated Aria then?"

Groggily, she lifted her gaze. Her skull thumped in response. "I didn't want any of you to see me so pitifully like this. I've still got a long way to go."

Gray looked as if he was about to speak once more, but choked on his own spit as something heavy slammed down upon all of them. It wasn't physical, part of the ceiling hadn't fallen atop them or anything. It was foul; malevolent and reeked of ill-intent.

Erza had known the odor of death more times than she would like to admit. When Jose made his entrance, clapping sarcastically for their performance, that's the scent she acquainted with him. "My, my... what a wonderful show you've all put on." His magic flowed into the room in a rush, like a dam had been broken and was taking them all under water. "Honestly, I never expected you to be able to provide me with this much entertainment."

Despite his words, he didn't look entertained. The opposite actually. Clearly, their efforts in defeating the Element Four had angered the guild master.

Gray and Elfman both looked ready to combat the man. They had injuries of their own already, but that didn't matter.

They wouldn't be able to take on Jose even at their absolute best.

Erza's heart had started pounding again. She shifted herself, _made_ her body move against its will and shouted: "Get away!"

Perhaps too late. With a a swipe of his hand, Jose's magic burst out and connected with both men. When they stopped shouting out their pain, they were hurled into the air and left to their own devices.

Erza pulled herself to her feet. Her mind and body were both telling her to not move, but all of them were going to die if she didn't. That was more than enough motivation to rush forward and call on her _Kureha no Yoroi_ for the second time that day. This time though, it was specifically for combat purposes.

Adrenaline pumping through her veins, she rushed forward and slashed wildly. The hope she had for the speed that came with her armor being able to do some good against Jose died almost immediately as he dodged, ducked and dipped in and out of her slashes with apparent ease. Maybe at full strength she would have put up a better fight, but she'd exerted herself too much already.

She knew that all she could hope to accomplish right was buy time. Defeating the guild master was out of the question. Mira had already begun to work on dragging Gray and heaving Elfman's body out of the way. If Erza had to fight until her last breath for those three to escape, then she was prepared to do just that.

Jose snatched up her leg in the middle of their bout, wrenching his arm and tossing her against the closest wall. The shock of her back suddenly colliding against a hard surface with such force almost made her vomit up her guts, but she swallowed the feeling as she tumbled back down onto her own two feet.

"Erza Scarlet." He addressed formally. "I seem to remember you taking on the force of Jupiter head on. How is it possible that you're still standing?"

She didn't know. She'd heard stories of people performing amazing feats of strength in desperate situations, maybe it was something like that. "My comrades make my heart strong." Well that much she knew for sure. "If I'm fighting for those that I cherish, I care not for what happens to this body of mine."

"Admirable." Jose grinned, but not out of cheerfulness or delight. "You're truly a woman worth killing with my own hands."

* * *

Cana stared on in shock and horror. The shades had proved too much for all of them, nothing they did managed to harm them and it just resulted in all of their magic being drained. Few Fairy Tail mages were conscious, none standing.

What she was really focused on though, were the shades at their guild doors. Not long ago, more had shown up, carrying with them several battering rams. They worked together in order to bring it down, and bring it down they did: the large siege weapons demolished the walls, the higher parts of the building beginning to collapse and cave in from the shocks emanating throughout it.

"What do you think you're doing to our guild?!"

It was all she could do, shout. Scream.

They didn't listen. They didn't even look like they'd heard her, continuing to instead bash down the home she and many other had grown up in.

"It's crumbling... stop it! STOP IT! IT'S GOING TO COLLAPSE!"

Cana's arms gave out the moment she put any weight on them. She tried mustering up any last remaining scraps of magic, but nothing responded.

The guild was tough, to be sure, but not nearly enough. It fell right before her very eyes, a monstrous boom echoing through the entire area as the brick, wood and tiling smashed into the ground.

A silence followed the collapse. Brief in reality, but it had felt like it would last for eternity.

"What's that?" Macao wasn't far from her, laid out on his back with droopy eyes and a lazy face. "A shooting star?"

Cana rolled over and tried to pinpoint where he was looking. Anything else was better than seeing their home in such tatters right now. She could see something in the distance, glinting an almost golden glow. She didn't know whether she was just seeing things or if that had been what Macao had been talking about, she continued to watch it nevertheless.

It began to grow. Within moments, it had become a long stream of light, zipping around in a large radius several times before emitting a loud, almost eardrum destroying pop and crashing headfirst into Phantom Lord's mobile guild.

* * *

The colors had disappeared.

What replaced it was a feeling that put him on edge. It was almost like someone was standing behind him, holding a knife to his neck. Rubble fell around his person, soon cleaing up enough for him to get a view of his surroundings.

"Oh, what's this?"

Naruto recognized the man—he'd never met him in person, but he'd seen pictures and heard stories from Master. "Hey."

The magic pouring out from Jose Porla was devastating, its sheer strength was comparable to Makarov's. He didn't back down from the man's strong and intimidating gaze, staring the Guild Master and Wizard Saint directly in the eyes.

"Naruto?"

The voice was weaker, croaky, but he knew who it belonged to. He took a glance behind him to see Erza, blood trailing from her forehead and leaking out of the side of her mouth. Bruises covered her body, her armor was cracked and broken in multiple places, and her magical power was bordering non-existence.

"Just stay there and don't move."

"Are you planning on fighting me alo-"

Naruto huffed, fire erupting from his mouth, rapidly expanding and and crashing into Jose's body. It continued past the guild master, constantly growing in size and blowing over the water outside the building for hundreds of meters.

"As I was saying." The burning, white hot flames began to dissipate, only embers remaining along the path his breath had taken. "Are you really going to fight me on your own?"

Naruto sarcastically looked around the room, from the beaten and bloody Erza to... "Do you see anyone else here?"

Jose grinned.

* * *

 **Chapter 5 done!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

Demon Slayer Chapter 6

* * *

Naruto didn't waste any time. The longer the fight drew on the more of a disadvantage he was at, that's the way he saw it. He didn't believe for a second that he was capable of outlasting Jose.

And so he ran in immediately. He initiated with a swift punch aimed straight at the Wizard Saint's jaw but was batted away easily enough—that was fine, he'd only intended for it to lower the man's expectations of the next one.

Naruto's following uppercut came much faster and with significantly more strength behind it, knocking Jose off his feet. The blond used the mage's daze to rip out all the slips of paper he'd filled with lightning magic from his pocket, scattering them all around the immediate vicinity of Phantom Lord's master. Upon releasing the seals, lightning instantaneously arced from small slip to the next and shocked Jose a multitude of times.

The breath of flame he'd released before had been more of a display. It covered a large distance, but lacked the necessary power to actually take someone down.

He took time to prepare this one, opening his mouth wide and gulping down as much oxygen as his lungs could handle. The moment he felt the initial fire ignite within his chest, Naruto wrenched open his mouth.

 _"Kama no Gekiko!"_

The full force of the blond's flame was released upon the guild master at near point-blank range. The guild trembled beneath his feet as the excessively powerful white fire savagely roared through Jose.

Naruto let out the last of the flame in his lungs. The master wasn't directly in front of him anymore—incinerated? No, definitely not. He could still sense him, the mage had just been forced back about thirty feet or so and was undoubtedly much worse for wear.

The blond prepared himself for the second bout as the sheet of flame started dispersing.

Something ripped through him. Very suddenly. A dark, almost black, stream had torn through the flames and then through him, disappearing almost as quickly as it had come.

It hadn't felt so bad, it couldn't be so bad. Right?

Wrong.

Naruto almost threw up when he looked down. Actually, he wasn't even sure if he could vomit anymore—a large hole was present where his stomach should be, bleeding profusely and showing off parts of his ribs and hip bones. What was left of his intestines hung outside of his body.

He collapsed to his knees. When his mouth opened, he felt his throat convulse as his blood was spewed out. He was soon flat on the ground, gasping and choking on a combination of blood, spit and bile.

His vision continued to darken no matter how much he willed it not to, until everything before him was gone.

* * *

Erza looked on, eyes stricken wide.

Naruto had fallen, his head turned towards her. Blood continued to leak from his lips, but it was nothing in comparison to the pool that had already formed from the wound in his stomach.

His body convulsed briefly once more and that was it.

Jose laughed. "I had expected so much more!" Spreading his arms out wide, he looked down at the dead boy tauntingly. "All bark and no bite. Truly a staple of Fairy Tail."

This was the point where she decided that things could not go on any longer. She would not sit idly by and allow someone to get away with murdering one of her comrades, let alone mocking them in death. But as she attempted to garner what little energy was remaining, she stopped—her eyes darted back to the blond's still body, believing it to have been just a trick of her eye.

It had not been.

Naruto's hand twitched. Slowly, his fingers began moving once more, a low grunt emanating from his throat as he pushed himself up off the ground. He rose to his feet and ripped away at his bloody and torn orange shirt, swiping his hand down his stomach and flicking the blood onto the ground.

Indeed, he was alive. The fatal wound that had led to his death was nowhere to be seen, only the slightly tanned skin that covered the rest of him.

"It's been a while..." Naruto rolled his head and cracked his neck several times. "... since I've had a teenage body." He did several stretches, putting his arms high above his head and then bending low to touch his toes. "This stupid kid's shorter than I was."

Erza studied the man back from the dead. He didn't look any different, didn't sound any different, and even his magic was back as it had once been. It was as if nothing had changed, but what he said and the way he spoke suggested otherwise.

She was about to speak out, but Jose beat her to it. "You were dead!" He exclaimed, shocked, but not fearful. "My own magic blew a hole in your stomach, yet you're standing once more."

"No, no. I wasn't dead. I can't die." Naruto rolled his shoulders, bursting into a brilliant white flame moments after stopping. "You're a different story though."

"This again?" Jose had gotten over his initial surprise and no longer looked amused, but Erza was still wracking her head over what had just happened. "You haven't been able to harm me thus far, not even a burn on my skin. What could you hope to accomplish by trying what has already failed?"

The blond burst forward and had taken Jose's position within moments, the guild master barely dodging out of the thrust of the demon slayer's arm. Naruto pressed onward, however, flame blazing around and trailing behind him, not giving his enemy a single second to recover.

"They used to call me a leech, you know. Then a thief." Phantom Lord's master ceased his movement for only an instant. Naruto immediately took advantage of his slip and clamped his hand around the Wizard Saint's neck and raised him up off of his feet. "Want me to tell you why?"

A dark sort of magic coiled around Jose's hand and he sent it towards Naruto's heart—had he stopped on purpose? Had he realized he couldn't take the blond on in speed, but could in an up close confrontation?

Naruto batted the hand away like it was nothing, a small blast of air emanating from the contact and rushing throughout the heavily damaged room. "Wh-" Jose looked upon the man hoisting him up with another bout of shock, one that Erza mirrored.

"The people I touch." Naruto interrupted. "I take what makes them, them. Their strength, their magic, it's all mine as soon as I get a touch." The blond wrenched the man over, harshly slamming him onto the solid ground. Without letting go of Jose's throat, he pressed the tips of fingers on the guild master's chest, right above his heart. Dark magic coiled around his hand. "Look familiar?"

Without even a blink, Naruto pushed his hand down into Jose's chest. He coughed up blood, his body violently jerking for a while, before coming to a cold stop.

Another thing Erza couldn't believe.

Fairy Tail mages did not kill people.

Naruto did not kill people.

The murderer stood from his crouched pose, idly nudging the corpse with his foot as he played with Jose's magic in his hands as if he were getting used to it.

"Naruto!" She screamed without thinking.

He turned to face her, eyebrows raised, curious. Slowly, he started to pace in her direction. "What's wrong, Erza? You look afraid." She wanted to move yet couldn't. Her eyes stayed locked with his even as he crouched down in front of her, his hand coming up and gently grasping her chin. There was a smile on his face, but it wasn't his usual friendly one. "Your whole body is quivering."

As soon as the words left his lips, something crashed behind them, and Naruto was soon sent hurtling back, bouncing roughly along the ground a few times before coming to a halt.

Erza let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. His stare had been intense, it made her feel so small and insignificant.

"Erza." Makarov's soothing voice washed over her. "It's comforting to know that you're still alive. You don't need to fret any longer, it will all be over soon."

"He killed Jose." She said. "He _killed_ someone, Master."

"I know."

"Makarov!" Naruto grunted as he pulled himself back to his feet, popping his shoulder back into place and wincing in pain. "You somehow look even older than when I last saw you."

"I'm not here to make jokes." The atmosphere started to get tenser with each moment that passed. The very air felt like it was thinning out. Jose's magic begun swirling around the blond as Makarov's burst out in a great display of power. "Return Naruto at once."

"But I'm already here."

Fairy Tail's guild master did not respond with words, but action. He held his hands in front of him diagonally and parallel with one another. A small white sphere formed between them. "As is our custom, I will give you until the count of three."

"You're really going to do that to a poor, innocent boy?"

"One."

"And one of your guild members, at that?"

The magic within Master's hand grew each time he spoke. "Two."

"Fine, fine. I get it." He drawled. With a sigh, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell forward; first to his knees, and then onto his face.

The magic Master had been gathering dissipated around them.

"What's happening, Master?"

Makarov spared her a glance. "We will discuss this later, privately. For now, you need rest. Do not speak of this to anyone."

"Bu-"

"Erza. No one can find out about what you saw." With a stern look directed her way, she gave in to his demand. "Am I understood?"

"Yes, Master."

* * *

Naruto awoke slowly.

He yawned, pulling himself up from the bed he'd been laid down on.

He had no idea where he was. The room he was in—a tent, really, the walls and ceiling were some sort fabric and were held up by support beams all around—wasn't large and only had a few other beds in it. Beside his own was a wooden chair, occupied by a sleeping redhead.

"Erza?"

She didn't wake and he decided to leave her. Idly, he thought how awkward it would be to fall asleep in armor.

Naruto threw the sheets off himself and planted his feet on the ground. He fiddled with the plain shirt that had been thrown over him, lifting it up and pinching the skin over his stomach.

It was surreal, he'd been convinced that he was going to die after what Jose had done to him.

It brought the question to the forefront of his mind, who'd healed him?

Porlyusica?

It was the only person he knew around Magnolia that had any chance of healing the kind of damage he'd taken. Whoever it was, he'd make sure to thank them for saving his life.

For now, he wanted to find out where he was. Throwing the tent's flaps open, he took a peek outside. It was dark, but plenty of torches had been spread out and lit. Every tent had at least two. Men wearing the distinct uniform of the Rune Knights walked around casually, and down further he could see a large gathering of them eating, drinking and laughing amongst themselves.

"Naruto?" He peered back behind him at the source of the meek voice. Erza blinked a few times, grimacing before sitting up straight. Her tone immediately returned to being as hard as it usually was. "You're already awake."

"Uh, yeah? Was I not supposed to be?"

"No that's not it. Everyone thought you'd be out for a while. You almost died."

"Felt like I did." He remarked. "How long has it been?"

"A day."

"Oh." He'd spent more time unconscious under Porlyusica's care when he'd broken his arm at twelve. "So who fixed me up?"

"Well..."

"What?"

"You did."

"Ah?"

"It's difficult to explain. I'm not the best one to talk about it with, either."

There was an awkward expression on her face. Was something wrong? Sure they'd never really gotten to know each other much, outside of when she'd broken up fights between Natsu, Gray and himself, but he never figured that she'd be uncomfortable around him.

"Who would be the best then?"

"Master." Naruto could sense him. That frighteningly massive magic was hard to ignore, especially when it was so close by. Erza stood from the chair and marched forward. "I'll take you to him."

They drew the attention of a few people as they walked through the camp but otherwise went mostly ignored. Master was in the largest tent, seated at a desk with a stone-faced man on the other side.

"Good evening." The man smiled at them, but it wasn't a very welcoming one. "You seem to be doing well."

"Who are you?"

"Naruto." Makarov spoke sternly. "This is Lahar, Captain of one of the council's custody enforcement units."

"Okay." Naruto looked between them before focusing on the small old man. "Can we talk?"

"Of course you can." Lahar butted in. He gestured toward a group of chairs off to the side. "Bring up a seat. This discussion concerns you anyway."

The blond did so, planting it right beside Makarov and sat down on it. He supposed he could get an explanation from Makarov later. "What's it about?"

"Your arrest, Uzumaki-san. And your upcoming trial."

"Arrest?" Naruto frowned. "What for?"

Lahar's elbows rested on the desk, his fingers crossing in front of him. "The murder of former Wizard Saint and Master of Phantom Lord, Jose Porla."

The noise that escaped his throat made him sound rather stupid: "Huh?"

"Uzumaki-san, what do you remember about yesterday afternoon?"

Dying.

"Not much."

Lahar smiled again. "Given the gravity of the situation, I am obligated by law to inform you that you could be facing severe punishments such as lifetime imprisonment, banishment from Fiore, or execution." Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but the man continued before he got a word out. "That decision is left up entirely to the Magic Council."

"I didn't murder anyone." He blurted. The accusation was beginning to grate his nerves. "It's the other way around. Jose put a hole through _me_."

"You're free to see his body at any time." The captain countered immediately. "Traces of your magic are all over him. I admit that the wound in his chest was a bit strange, but there's little doubt that you inflicted it." He gestured toward both Erza and Master next. "Erza Scarlet and Makarov Dreyar both claim to be witnesses in your slaughtering of Jose Porla. Do you believe them to be liars?"

Naruto reeled back. Were they not on his side? His eyes darted back and forth between the two. They offered him no response.

"No..."

"That makes my job easier then." Lahar stood and motioned for them to do the same. "We will make for Era at the end of the week. Until then, Naruto Uzumaki, you are to remain within the confines of this camp. When we arrive, you will be provided meals and accommodation if necessary. Any attempt at escape or failure to comply with my direct orders will be treated as an admittance of guilt. Am I clear?"

"Crystal."

* * *

Erza despised lying.

She understood why and begrudgingly agreed that it was necessary in this instance, but that didn't help keep her stomach from contorting uncomfortably.

"You better start talking old man. I thought I was dead until an hour ago—good news, right? Only instead of waking up to a cute girl nursing me back to health, I found out that I'm not even remotely injured _and_ I'm being accused of a murder that I didn't commit." Naruto scowled. "Explain."

The three were situated in the tent that Naruto had been assigned. It was small, the only things inside being a sleeping mat, a lamp, and a wooden fold-up desk which Makarov had propped himself up on. Erza herself stood in front of the tent's closed flaps.

"You're right. You didn't murder Jose." The master began calmly. "But something did and it used your body as a means to do so."

"It?"

"It." He confirmed. "There's something that Jiraiya and I have been holding off on telling you. I believe that now is the appropriate time to let you know." Master hopped down and moved over the blond, poking him in the chest. "There's a a beast sealed within you, one with enough power to bring everything we know to ruin. It has lived for hundreds of years. Many claim that it was born to rid the world of demons and there is certainly evidence to back up that claim. The demon slayers you've read so much about, they were once its loyal legion."

Naruto remained silent for a few moments, digesting what he'd been told. "I've never heard of something like that."

"You have." Makarov was insistent. "It raised you for the first ten years of your life. Your magic was bestowed upon you by it."

The blond stared.

And while he did, Erza turned her head away. There was no beast, Makarov had told her, no demon, but a man. An ancient wizard so dangerous that even learning his name could spell the end of your life.

Master claimed to not know the extent of the man's abilities while he was sealed within Naruto. He was being extremely cautious, unwilling to even let Naruto know the truth and not just the man's name, twisting his words and using the unique past the blond had with a demon to his advantage.

Erza would look the other way this time, but she did not want to see Master like this ever again.

"Is that why he disappeared so suddenly back then?" Naruto asked. "Did he seal himself inside me? Why?"

"I don't know the reason. All I do know is that its first instinct was to destroy whoever had brought it out, whoever had inflicted harm on you."

"Jose."

"Yes."

Naruto wasn't a quiet person. Even though they had never been that close, it was still strange to watch him sit there in silence. She watched his expression change several times, watched as the lies set in, watched as he tried to come to some sort of conclusion.

"Gah!" He gave up rather fast, throwing his arms in the air and grumbling like a child. "What the hell."

Makarov rested a hand on his shoulder, smiling slightly. "I know it might be difficult to understand, but it's the truth. And knowing this, I, and Fairy Tail, still stand with you. You won't be facing any of the harsh punishments Lahar told you about, not unless they plan to do the same to every one of us."

"We're claiming self-defense on this whole situation." Erza butted in, deciding that the lies were over and that it was time for actual truths. "Phantom Lord instigated. If we had not retaliated, then it very well could have been us that was destroyed instead, and there undoubtedly would have been more than just a single death. That's our argument."

Naruto slowly nodded. "I get that." He sighed, flopping backwards and spreading himself out over the mat. "I just wish that none of this had happened to begin with."

Erza shared the sentiment.

* * *

The week had finished up quicker than Naruto thought it would. Erza hadn't stayed with them, instead spending her time with the guild to assist in the planning and construction of a new building. Despite being a witness to Naruto's actions, she wasn't coming with them to the trial either—something she herself requested on the grounds of being needed at the guild. Apparently she wasn't required to go anyway, Lahar claimed that Makarov's word was more than enough.

The Rune Knights had spent most of their time gathering mages from the guild and many, many witnesses from around Magnolia, questioning them for hours and extracting as much information from them as they possibly could.

Naruto had been asking questions of his own. They wouldn't even give him the time of day at first, but as the week drew closer and closer to its end, they softened up and started to answer him. Despite that, they refused to give him any details or even their own individual opinion.

It wasn't until twenty minutes ago that he'd found out their agreed upon conclusion, from Lahar himself: _Fairy Tail acted reasonably and within their rights._

While that's what the Rune Knights had deduced, Makarov stressed to him that they weren't in the clear just yet. The Magic Council could still very well punish them. They had, after all, just lost one of the biggest guilds in the country as well as one of their Wizard Saints.

The knights had recently finished packing up their temporary camp and loaded all of their resources into their carriages. They dispatched in small groups one after the other. Naruto wondered why they didn't just all move together, but the question in his head didn't raise enough care for him to bother asking.

Lahar, who had been directing the groups in their departure, marched up to him. "We're about to leave. Are you ready?"

Naruto shrugged. It wasn't like he had anything to take with him, all of his stuff was still with Jiraiya. His lips thinned at the thought of the old man taking his money and spending it on women. "Wait, we?"

"We." The Captain confirmed. "At Makarov's request, I didn't lock you up in a cell. That kind of leniency isn't going to work in Era. I will be right with you the entire time."

"Even when I take a piss?"

"Yes."

"When I'm sleeping?"

"We'll be sharing a bed." Naruto froze. "That was a joke."

Oh.

They were the last carriage to leave. Master, Lahar and himself all grouped together along with a couple knights and the driver up front. The travel itself was lackluster at best, Naruto couldn't keep himself from fidgeting. He hated having to be still, he was tempted to jump out of the moving vehicle and try to make a run for it just to cure his mind-numbing boredom.

At some point, Naruto fell asleep. He didn't know when nor could he recall feeling tired, but he decided that it wasn't worth thinking about.

When he woke, it was to the early morning sun piercing through the carriage. He yawned and stretched, his bones creaking and cracking.

Everyone else looked like they'd been awake for hours already.

"Are we there yet?"

As if to answer his question, the carriage came to a smooth stop.

"We are." Lahar was the first out, then the two Rune Knights, followed by the three Fairy Tail mages.

Naruto looked up at the large building in front of them, marveling at its gigantic size. The two Fairy Tail mages followed Lahar through the spacey halls, past many frog looking council workers who never even spared them a glance. Eventually, they came to a stop in front of a set of double doors.

"Did you prepare a speech?"

"What?"

Lahar was amused. "You're about to face every member of the Magic Council, including the Chairman."

"Already?" Naruto had no idea what he was supposed to say. He'd never been put on trial before, but he was sure that just saying _I didn't do it_ wasn't a very good defense. "Didn't you say I'd get a place to stay first? And food? I'm kind of hungry, I haven't eaten since we left."

"If necessary. However, the council wishes to get this under way as soon as possible. They are not a group of people who you can keep waiting for long."

"Don't worry about it too much." Makarov piped in nonchalantly. "I will be in there with you. They won't be playing their mind games today."

The old man still looked half asleep and looked at everything around them with boredom.

Comforting.

Lahar opened the doors and gestured them inside.

The room was enormous, Naruto wagered they'd be able to fit the guild hall in here. In the middle was a small stand; in front was a site to behold, nine council members sat on a raised platform beside one another, surrounded by grand decor, and even further above sat another, physically much larger than the others and seemingly more important. He couldn't make much out of him from the angle he was at, and the fact that he wore a large hat which fell in front of his eyes didn't help.

Lahar escorted him to the stand, where he stood straight and put his attention forward. Makarov had warned him that he would be punished with _that_ if he wasn't on his best behavior.

"Naruto Uzumaki." The large man boomed down towards him. "Are you aware of the reason that you stand before us today?"

"Yes."

"Would you explain to us your understanding of the situation?"

"I'm being accused of murdering Jose Porla."

"Indeed." Someone else had spoke this time, an old man with white hair, a long beard and a bald spot on top of his head. He wore light robes similar to the others. "The Wizard Saint, Jose Porla, Master of the guild Phantom Lord, fell in battle by your hand. Is this information correct?"

Naruto swallowed. He didn't want to admit to something that he didn't believe he was at fault for, but Makarov had persuaded him to do so in order for them to have the best possible chance. "It is."

"When you engaged in combat with Jose, did you have the intention of ending his life?"

"I did not."

Another council member spoke next—this one with blue hair, and his attire while similar was more casual. A strange tattoo was marked around his right eye. "A lot can happen in battle." He said, his tone leisurely and calm, significantly less formal than the previous two men had been. "Especially when you're fighting on a level where your opponent is someone powerful enough to be named Wizard Saint, one wrong move, one miscalculation can spell the end of either of your lives."

"I agree." It was a woman to speak up this time. Her long, dark purple hair contrasted with her light clothes nicely. She smiled down upon him beautifully, apparently more amused by the current state of affairs than anything. "The stronger you and your opponent are, the higher the risk."

"That's enough." A formerly silent member grunted; he was old, too, but extremely short in comparison. Naruto sympathized with him. "We've already discussed this. That's not what we're here for today."

"Michello is right." The balding man from before said. "Uzumaki, the council has come to a conclusion on this matter. You are to be held accountable for the death of Jose Porla. However, given the circumstances surrounding his demise, you will not be facing any legal ramifications."

Well that was a load off.

"Instead." The blue-haired man interjected, a small smirk flickering onto his face. "You're getting a promotion."

"A what?"

"When the Wizard Saints was first formed, it was done so with a set of rules that each individual had to abide by. Many have been removed or modified over the years, but the council has seen fit to bring one back for this occasion: the transferal of the title Wizard Saint by combat."

"You can't be serious." Makarov remarked from behind him, sounding shocked. Peering back, Naruto could see it on his face—the surprise on Lahar's, too.

"No, Makarov." Another short old man was to speak next; his face was warm, it kind of reminded him of Master. "We are serious."

"Don't let it get to your head." A different councilwoman spoke, much older than the previous. Her eyes and tone were like steel. "Should you choose to accept, you will be Wizard Saint in name _only_. You will not be privy to any resources, you will not have any say on matters concerning the Wizard Saints, and you will not be called upon in a time of need."

"But!" The blue-haired man injected himself back into the discussion. The guy sure liked to talk. "Should you prove yourself worthy of the title, before someone else is found to replace you, then you will take on the role in full."

Naruto's lips thinned. He stared for a moment. "What if I refuse?"

"Then you'll be throwing away a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"Do I have to decide now?"

"No."

Well, whatever. He'd never been one to think about things much anyway.

His sight traveled across the council members, locking eyes with each briefly.

"I'll take it."

* * *

 **Chapter 6 done!  
**


End file.
